
NORMAS 


FRIENDS 


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TURNEY GEIBEL 











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NORMA’S FRIENDS 

A Story of Talents 




“Hello, girls !“ came Betty’s greeting from the roof 

OF the garage. —Haye 31 , 








NORMA’S FRIENDS 

A STORY OF TALENTS 


By 

MARGUERITE TURNEY GEIBEL 


Illustrated by 

FLORENCE J. HOOPES 






BOSTON 

LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD GO. 










Copyright, 1927, 

By Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co. 


All rights reserved 


Norma’S Friends 



Printed in.TTr S. 


A. 


IBorwooC) {press 
BERWICK & SMITH CO. 
Norwood, Mass. 


SEP 207] - 

©Cl A 10042 44 







I am a part of all whom I have met.—HOMER 
















CONTENTS 


I. One Day in Mat - - - - 11 

II. Betty Decides on a Caeeer - 30 

III. The Mysterious Black Box - 49 

IV. Uncle Herbert’s Gifts - - 68 

V. The Picnic ----- 74 

VI. Betty Begins - - - . 89 

VII. Summer Plans - - - - 95 

VIII. Norma Migrates - - - - no 

IX. “Man is Superior to the Ele¬ 
ments” ----- 118 

X. The Haleys “ At Home ” - - 128 

XL Blue Bell - - - - - 143 

XII. In High at Last - - - - 164 

XIII. Annette’s Venture - - - 186 

XIV. The New Year - - - - 203 

XV. Betty’s Game - - - - 218 

XVI. The Haleys, Incorporated - 229 

XVII. Something Long and Green - 251 

XVIII. Jimmy Creates a Job - - - 260 

XIX. The Haunted House - - - 273 

XX. The New High - - - - 294 

XXI. A Letter from Uncle Herbert 307 

XXII. The Secret of the Black Box - 313 

7 



/ 


I 




ILLUSTRATIONS 


‘‘Hello, girls! ” came Betty’s greeting 
from the roof of the garage (Page 
31) - - - - « Frontispiece 

FACING PAGE 

“Keep the crowd back!” the guard 
ordered sharply - - - - 84 

Pulling off her own shabby sweater. 

Blue Bell wrapped it around her 
stick ' - - - „ - 160 

A procession of people carrying their 

contributions - - - - - 194 

They carried Betty off the court - - 226 

The three crept to the top of the stairs 

and waited ... - - 288 


9 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


CHAPTER I 

ONE DAY IN MAY 

The schoolroom was full of sunshine, for 
the windows faced the south, and it was nearly 
three o’clock on a glorious May day. 

“ Shall we have the shades drawn? Any 
one object to the sun? ” Miss Rice asked, 
looking down the rows of those nearest the 
windows. 

“No! No! No!” The “ noes ” seemed to 
continue for a full minute. In May, sunshine 
is too precious to be denied admittance. Later 
in the summer one may, perhaps, draw a shade, 
but not in May, no matter how glaring the sun¬ 
light. 

“ All right! ” Miss Rice, a faded but sweet¬ 
looking blonde, smiled, then turned briskly 
to Joseph Campagna. “ You may read, 
Joseph! ” 

Unwillingly Joseph, a shy little Italian, 

11 


12 NORMA’S FRIENDS 

dragged himself from his seat, buttoned his 
coat to hide a none-too-clean shirt, and looked 
intently at the page, as if it would read itself, 
if given time. 

Norma St. Clair squirmed. She had hoped 
Joseph would not have to read to-day. 

“ These men were dependent for their sub— 

sub-” Joe stopped and looked helplessly 

at Miss Rice. 

“ His eyes are just like a nice big dog’s,” 
Norma thought, “ always pleading for kind¬ 
ness.” Her serious brown eyes were melting 
with pity. 

“ Subsistence,” Miss Rice prompted. 
“Joseph, surely a big boy in eighth grade 
should be able to say that word.” She sighed 
in despair. It was hard to listen to Joseph’s 
reading. 

“ Subsistence,” Joseph mumbled, his head 
lowering behind the history book used for read¬ 
ing lessons,—“ on the tropical fruit of the 
island they had discovered,” he brought out 
slowly. 

Norma felt her own cheeks burning at the 
rebuke which Joseph had suffered. Poor 



ONE DAY IN MAY 


13 


Joseph! He looked so pathetic, and felt so 
embarrassed when corrected. Norma could 
not see why Miss Rice never appeared to notice 
it; she was kind enough, but had no patience 
with Joe’s slow reading. It made Norma 
squirm, too, but chiefly out of pity, and only 
partly because it was tiresome to listen. 

“ If they’d just let him alone,” Norma 
thought, twisting a tight dark curl in her dis¬ 
tress, ‘‘ and not try to teach him to read swiftly 
and with expression. He can’t, anyway. 
Poor Joseph! ” She glanced at the Hiawatha 
calendar. A little over two weeks until Flag 
Day, when Joseph would have an appropriate 
drawing on the board. 

‘‘ Get ready for painting lesson,” Miss Rice 
commanded, and the history books used for 
reading disappeared as if by magic, with a 
series of little soft thuds as they dropped into 
place. When books were put away promptly, 
it meant the next lesson was a welcome one. 

There was always a special stir on Friday 
afternoon just before painting lesson. It was 
the last lesson on the last day of the week, and 
was considered a treat because it only came 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


14 

once a week, and because everybody loved to 
daub in paints. 

Glancing over at Joseph with the tiny smile 
she always wore when she looked at him, 
Norma saw that he was sitting very straight, 
almost smiling. He had forgotten the read¬ 
ing lesson and the shirt he tried to hide because 
Miss Rice had spoken once, before the whole 
class, of his untidiness. 

The door opened, and Miss Jameson, the 
lively little painting-teacher, in her inevitable 
green dress, stepped in. One day she had 
come all dressed up for some affair,—and the 
new dress had been green, too. Norma and 
her best friend, Elaine McDonald, had been 
disappointed. “ I wonder if it’s because she 
told us once that green is nature’s color and 
goes with anything? ” Norma had asked, and 
Elaine had agreed that that was probably the 
reason. 

In Miss Jameson’s hand were three pussy¬ 
willows and two yellow daffodils. “Aren’t 
they pretty? ” she inquired with a smile, hold¬ 
ing them up. “ Who knows why they’re so 
lovely together? ” 


ONE DAY IN MAY 


15 


Instantly Joseph’s hand shot up. “ Because 
the grey and brown are neutrals, and the yel¬ 
low is so bright,” he offered. 

“ You remembered about the neutral colors, 
didn’t you, Joseph? Joseph doesn’t forget 
things,” she told the class, nodding her head 
with satisfaction, as much as to say, “ I told 
you so.” 

This time Joseph flushed with pleasure, and 
looked about shyly, unaccustomed to being the 
object of so much approval. As his eyes met 
Norma’s, he smiled. Miss Jameson had re¬ 
membered his name, and she didn’t remember 
many names—couldn’t, with a new class every 
half-hour, and all the different schools to teach. 
Both Joseph and Norma knew that she had 
remembered his name because he was one of 
her best pupils. 

Elaine passed out the tin paint-boxes and 
filled the tiny cups with water. 

Turning to the blackboard. Miss Jameson 
tried the little bouquet, first alone, then with 
white paper back of it. The white paper made 
the pussies stand out better, the class decided. 

“ How large can you make them on your 


16 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


paper? ” Miss Jameson asked. “ Their nat¬ 
ural size? ” 

“ About one - fourth,” Joseph answered 
promptly. 

“ Right,” Miss Jameson approved, “ because 
the pussy-willows are long.” She drew them, 
on the proper scale, beside the* bouquet which 
she had pinned on the blackboard molding, 
gave a few instructions concerning the mixing 
of colors and shading, and everything grew 
still. 

If Joseph painted with his tongue in his 
cheek, the habit did not adversely affect his 
work. 

Though it looked so easy to make three 
brown stems for the pussies, tack on the soft 
little grey ears, then make two green stems and 
the golden cup of the daffodils, Norma sur¬ 
veyed her work ruefully when it was finished. 
“ If only there had been time to do it over! ” 
she thought. “ It’s messy.” 

“ Pass in your work,” Miss Rice said, taking 
charge again. ‘‘ The papers will be marked, 
and you may have them Monday. Get ready 
for dismissal,” she added, and there was an 


ONE DAY IN MAY 


17 


instant of shuffling, then an almost electric 
silence, as if all were ready to spring when 
she should speak, as indeed they were, for it 
was May, and there was an inviting outdoors 
just the other side of those four walls. 

The class filed out in order, but, on reaching 
the street, rent the air with their shrieks. 
Everybody was calling or talking or yelling, 
just because it was good to be alive, and free, 
and out in the air of a May day. 

“Look, Elaine!” Norma rejoiced, holding 
her friend back by the elbow. “ Here’s a cater¬ 
pillar, and there’s a little dust on the sidewalk. 
Isn’t it nice to have dust on the sidewalk again, 
instead of snow? ” 

Elaine laughed in agreement. “ M-m-m, 
it’s good to get out. Less than a month until 
vacation. S’pose we’ll both pass all the 
exams. Norm? Wouldn’t it be terrible if one 
of us didn’t? ” she inquired, making a tragic 
face. 

“ Silly! You know we shall. We always 
have,” Norma reminded cheerfully, if a trifle 
illogically. 

“ Oh! You’re smart. I didn’t mean you/* 


18 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


Elaine amended hastily. “ You’re good in 
everything.” 

“ Not in painting. Did you see that daub I 
made? Wasn’t it awful? There, I’m saying 
‘ awful ’ again, and Mother says I must not 
say it so often, or I won’t be able to talk 
properly. 

“Oh, Elaine!” Norma exclaimed on in¬ 
spiration. “ Wouldn’t it be nice if we didn’t 
have to go to the classes where we’re doing the 
best work? I get so tired of sitting there, 
counting windows, when things are repeated 
over and over again. I wish we could pass 
in one subject at a time, instead of all to¬ 
gether! ” 

“You would have been in high-school 
English long ago,” Elaine suggested loyally. 

“And Joseph would have been doing high- 
school painting and drawing and writing,” 
Norma added, catching the spirit of the school 
reform they were instituting. “ I heard Miss 
Jameson tell Miss Rice that Joseph’s writing 
was like copper-plate engraving. Wouldn’t 
it be grand if we could go ahead as fast as we’re 
able, instead of having everybody wait for 


ONE DAY IN MAY 


19 


everybody else? I believe every one would 
pass in something/’ 

“We shouldn’t be together so much,” Elaine 
objected cautiously, “ but we shouldn’t have to 
sit still so long, waiting for the whole class to 
learn. I don’t see why the bright ones and the 
dumb ones are all put in one class.” 

They walked along slowly, arms about each 
other’s waists, Norma’s brown curls close to 
Elaine’s honey-colored, fluffy, bobbed head, 
until they reached the street on which Norma 
lived, an old street in an old town, its large 
trees, large yards, and wide-open verandas 
testifying to its age. 

“ Come over to my house, Norma,” Elaine 
asked coaxingly. 

“ Have to go home first. I’ll see if I can. 
’Bye.” 

“ Face tag! ” Elaine responded, and was 
gone. 

Reluctantly Norma turned up the walk to 
her very dignified home of grey stone, set back 
from the street. It was really too nice a day 
to go in, even for a minute, but that was the 
rule—^home first after school. 



20 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


“ Hello, Daughter,’’ her mother greeted, 
smiling at Norma’s slow steps. ‘‘ Got spring 
fever? You look as if you didn’t want to come 
in.” 

Mrs. St. Clair, in her high-back chair by the 
window, laid down a magazine,—one of the 
“ grown-up ” ones that Norma never read— 
no pictures in it, ever. “ What did you do in 
school to-day? ” 

“Painted. It’s Friday, you know, and 
Joseph painted the most beautiful pussy¬ 
willows and daffodils. You just ought to see 
them. Mother! You’d be surprised.” She 
looked about the room. “ It’s better than any 
of the paintings we have,” she added enthu¬ 
siastically, warming to her task of giving 
Joseph his due. 

“ I think, from what you tell me, that he 
must be another Michael Angelo,” her mother 
said seriously. “ Michael was one of the best 
ever, you know,—and Italian, too,” she added 
quickly, as Norma’s lips framed themselves for 
a question. 

“ Do you think so, Mother? ” Norma asked, 
frowning in the effort to grasp the signifi- 



ONE DAY IN MAY 


21 


cance, and never once doubting her mother’s 
sincerity. 

“ It’s possible,” Mrs. St. Clair assured her 
pleasantly, and, because the subject did not 
seem so important to her as it did to Norma, 
who felt an intense pity for the unhappy 
Italian boy, changed the topic of conversation. 
“ I see, by the way you stand there, that you 
are thinking of going over to Elaine’s or 
Betty’s. You might get me some straw¬ 
berries. They’re an extravagance, but it’s 
just the sort of day for strawberry shortcake, 
and Katy hinted that she would like to make 
one.” 

‘‘ All right,” Norma agreed, and departed 
to her room on a mysterious errand. 

She closed her door, took from the little 
maple desk which had been a present on her 
tenth birthday, a sheet of note-paper, and 
wrote: 

“ You will probably be another Michael 
Angelo. Some one who knows said so.” 

Forgetting that an unsigned note was in bad 


22 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


taste, Norma omitted the signature, folded the 
note, concealed it in her pocket, and started off 
with the money her mother gave her for straw¬ 
berries. Joseph usually hung around his 
uncle’s fruit store. 

“Yoo-hoo!” the girl called when she had 
reached the yellow brick house, in the block 
around the corner, where Elaine lived. 

At the familiar call, Elaine bounded out. 

“ I’m going to the fruit store. Walk down 
with me? ” Norma invited. 

Elaine did the talking, while Norma won¬ 
dered whether Joseph would be in the fruit 
store on a nice day like this, when there were 
so many attractions outside. Then, too, there 
was the problem of getting the note to Joseph 
without Elaine’s seeing it. Of course it was 
not anything to be ashamed of, but it was just 
for Joseph, and would not be an easy thing to 
explain, even to Elaine. 

Once when Norma had talked of Joseph at 
home, her father had said, “ Tie will probably 
grow up and dig ditches.” Norma had 
worried ever since, for her father must know 
what he was talking about. Joseph must not 


ONE DAY IN MAY 


23 


dig ditches; he must be an artist. People did 
not understand how important that was. 
Joseph liked pretty things. Ugh! Fancy 
his working in a horrid ugly sewer, digging 
clay that would stick to his feet, and looking 
ashamed when acquaintances passed! 

When Miss Rice was cross with him, Norma 
wanted to say: “ Please don’t hurt his feelings. 
It’s so easy to hurt Joseph’s feelings.” But 
of course she could not say anything; people 
did not do such things. The class would 
laugh, and Miss Rice would stare. It was not 
like scolding Charlie Hall; he just laughed— 
had no feelings, Norma guessed. 

With vast relief, Norma saw that Joseph 
was at the store. Some of his paintings and 
drawings were on the wall, probably because 
he had more samples of his work than his own 
small home would accommodate. 

Instinctively Norma picked out the reddest 
strawberries, then wandered about while they 
were being wrapped, trying to get away from 
Elaine and near Joseph. She could not get 
the note into his hand, for Elaine had looked 
around, but Norma managed to drop it, and 


24 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


Joseph saw it fall and caught Norma’s mean¬ 
ing look. 

“ Come on, Elaine,” she called happily, 
‘‘ let’s hurry, so we can walk to the park.” 
Oh, what a relief to get rid of that note! She 
wished she might have seen Joseph’s face when 
he read it. He would read very slowly, and 
then would look pleased, like a dog when it is 
petted,—as he did when Miss Jameson praised 
his work before the class. She fell to wonder¬ 
ing whether he would know who Michael 
Angelo was—but of course he would, an 
Italian 1 

Over Norma’s desk at home was a framed 
picture—the best thing he ever had done. 
Joseph had sent it on Valentine’s day, care¬ 
fully wrapped in sheets of cheap tablet paper. 
It was her own likeness; she was wearing a red 
cape, her rain cape, and Joseph had made her 
look like Little Red Riding Hood. Norma was 
flattered beyond words. She had framed the 
picture, and Avished she might tell him so, but 
they never had spoken, never held any con¬ 
versation. SomehoAv their bond of sympathy 
and admiration did not call for words. 




ONE DAY IN MAY 


25 


‘‘ Let’s take the berries home, and then walk 
down to the river, Elaine,” Norma suggested, 
and Elaine readily assented. 

On the way to the park which lay along the 
river, they found a gutter stopped with soft 
mud, and, taking long sticks, cleared it out, 
enjoying the rush of water into the opening 
they had made. 

“ They’ve got the benches out again, Norma. 
Pretty soon we can have picnics,” Elaine re¬ 
minded gayly. 

“ I wish you were my sister,” Norma re¬ 
turned. “ I hate going home alone. You 
have a brother and a sister, but I have to do 
my lessons alone, and haven’t anybody to talk 
to,—except grown-ups, of course, and they 
don’t always count.” 

Later, when Norma’s wish for companion¬ 
ship was granted in a peculiar way, she thought 
of what she had told Elaine. For once, 
Elaine found no suitable answer ready for her 
friend, had no suggestion to make. She had 
always thought of Norma as self-sufficient, 
all-wise, not needing any one. Now, it ap¬ 
peared, Norma was lonely. 



26 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


The two stood on the stone bridge that 
spanned the river at its narrowest point, and 
watched the water rush on, as if anxious either 
to see what lay just ahead, or to know its fate. 
Hand in hand they sauntered back home along 
the path that followed the willows, close to the 
river-bank. 

“Violets!” Elaine exclaimed, darting into 
a clump of bushes. They picked the few stray 
flowers hidden there, and, as always with their 
treasures, divided them evenly. 

“ We’ll look for more to-morrow,” Norma 
announced when they had picked all but the 
buds. 

“ Look, Norma, quick!” Elaine ejaculated, 
pointing toward a rock in the river. “A rain¬ 
bow ! ” 

There, in the spray that formed as the water 
struck the rock, was the “ rainbow of promise,” 
and the girls stopped to admire it before going 
home. 

“ Was the park pretty, Norma? ” her 
mother asked, when Norma found her in the 
cheerful buff-and-white kitchen. 

“ Beautiful, Mother. We found these- 



ONE DAY IN MAY 27 

Before she could finish, the telephone rang in¬ 
sistently. 

“ Watch the biscuits in the oven, Norma,” 
her mother cautioned. “ Katy’s setting the 
table,—and they’re nearly ready.” 

From the hall her voice drifted back to the 
kitchen. “Yes. Why! So suddenly! Yes, 
of course we’ll come on Sunday—sooner if 
you- All right!” 

Mrs. St. Clair hung up the receiver, and re¬ 
turned to the kitchen with a peculiar expres¬ 
sion in her serious dark eyes. 

“ Your father’s cousin Selina is dead,— 
pneumonia,” she said quietly. 

“ Now what will Jimmy do? ” Norma asked 
in an awed voice, her first thought for the boy 
“ Aunt ” Selina had adopted. 

Abstractedly Norma’s mother took the bis¬ 
cuits from the oven before answering. They 
were golden brown and delightfull}^ uneven on 
top; Katy never would make shortcake except 
as separate little sweetened biscuits. 

“ Oh, undoubtedly his Uncle Arthur will 
take him now. His uncle’s wife did not want 
him when he was small, but now, of course. 



28 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


he’s larger, and there’s no one else to take him. 
Aunt Selina has been good to him; made her 
own slender income do for both of them.” 

“ Am I going Sunday? ” Norma queried, 
holding a full cream-pitcher in both hands. 

“ If you care to,” her mother replied. 
“ Probably your father will drive.” 

There was a rumbling sound in the drive¬ 
way, and, before the horn sounded, Norma was 
out of the kitchen and had jumped on the 
running-board. Mr. St. Clair, blond and 
contented-looking, entered, swinging Norma. 

“ Tomboys—both of you,” Mrs. St. Clair 
reproved as they entered together. 

“ This is all the exercise Father gets, except 
golf,” Norma pointed out, “ and he would have 
lost his figure long ago if it hadn’t been for 
swinging me.” 

They were seated at the table and Katy had 
served them, before Mrs. St. Clair told the 
news she had just received from Portland. 

“ I suppose his Uncle Arthur will take 
Jimmy? ” Mr. St. Clair questioned, laying 
down his fork. He looked at his wife, as if 
she could decide that point readily. 



ONE DAY IN MAY 


29 


‘‘ I don’t know,” Norma’s mother answered 
slowly. She looked out the window, across the 
lawn which was turning a vivid green. “ I 
don’t know,” she repeated. 

A sudden hope thrilled Norma, but she did 
not voice it until the next day. 

“ I suppose,” Mrs. St. Clair added with a 
smile which Norma did not understand, ‘‘ it 
will depend on his Aunt Frances—and what’s 
in the black box.” 


CHAPTER II 


BETTY DECIDES ON A CAREER 

‘‘ Look at that tomboy! ” 

Simultaneously, Norma and Elaine, on their 
way to Betty Haley’s, turned to the direction 
in which the woman was looking, though she 
was not addressing them. 

“ She means Betty,” Norma whispered in¬ 
dignantly. ‘‘ She’s doing stunts again—fall¬ 
ing off the roof, or something cute.” 

Elaine giggled at Norma’s shrewd guess, 
for the lively Betty seldom remained long in 
a state of equilibrium. “ It was that cranky 
Mrs. Baxter. She’s always criticising—even 
thinks girls shouldn’t play basketball. She 
doesn’t know how nice Betty is; there’s always 
fun where she is, and she’s good to every one.” 

The girls crossed the street and entered the 
somewhat disreputable yard surrounding the 
Haleys’ rambling house, that resembled a fussy 
brown hen in a straw nest. A neglected ‘‘ For 

Sale ” sign had been up so long it seemed a 

30 




BETTY DECIDES ON A CAREER 31 


part of the house, for no one ever paid any 
attention to it. 

“ Hello, girls! ” was Betty’s greeting from 
the roof of the garage. “ Glad you came. I’m 
fixing the roof; George just wouldn’t, and if 
we asked the landlord, he’d raise the rent, so 
I’m doing it. I don’t know what my mother 
would do without me.” All Betty’s strong 
teeth showed when she smiled; her freckles 
were in evidence at all times. 

A few years back Norma had thought the 
freckles were caused by chewing gum, and had 
begged her mother for a similar privilege. In 
the girl’s mind, Betty’s freckles, her popu¬ 
larity, and her gum had somehow been hope¬ 
lessly confounded as inseparable facts—cause 
and effect—and all desirable. If Betty 
chewed gum and had freckles, it must be the 
thing to do. In Norma’s youthful mind, too, 
had been a fixed idea that Betty was beautiful, 
in spite of green-grey eyes and a too-generous 
nose. 

“ I don’t see how you can stand up on that 
roof, Betty,” Norma exclaimed, looking up 
with fear and admiration in her eyes. 



32 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


“ It hardly slopes at all. IVe been up on 
top of the house,” Betty stated, not boastingly, 
for it was too much a matter of course. 

“ Let’s play basketball,” Elaine suggested, 
“ unless you’re too busy, Betty. Does 
Ernest mind if we use the ball? ” 

“No; we can play a while. I was going 
over to see Carma, but not till later this after¬ 
noon,” she finished doubtfully. 

Norma dreaded the “ Carma spells,” as she 
called them, when Betty, who was now in her 
first year in high school, refused to play with 
“ children,” which term included Norma and 
Elaine, who were “ only ” in eighth grade. At 
such times, Betty pinned up her hair, wore her 
longest dresses, nodded briefly to the “ chil¬ 
dren,” and devoted herself to Carma, who was 
a sophomore and discussed such matters as 
boys, manicuring, and styles in hairdressing. 
The spells would last a while, then Betty’s hair 
would be unpinned, her short dresses rein¬ 
stated, and Betty would be “ herself.” And, 
oh, what a relief to her two younger chums! 
For when Betty was leader, there was action. 
“ Why do you bother with Carma Hart- 


BETTY DECIDES ON A CAREER 33 

land? ’’ Elaine asked plaintively. “ You know 
you can have more fun with us.” 

“ I’m older than you are, you know,” Betty 
reminded, frowning dreamily. “ I can’t play 
kid games. I’ll soon be grown up.” 

“ Mother says when we’re grown up, we’re 
grown up a long, long time, but we’re only 
children for a while,” Norma offered hope¬ 
fully. 

“ I can’t help growing up,” Betty replied 
with the dignity she never could quite forget. 
“ But I’ll play basketball,—even college girls 
do that. Come on! ” and she dropped grace¬ 
fully from the roof of the garage and led the 
way to the gymnasium within what had been 
a barn until a disreputable car found shelter 
there. 

Betty was herself. 

“ We’ll take turns making baskets, then 
we’ll practise passing. You first, Norma,” she 
directed, tossing the ball to Norma, who leaped 
awkwardly and missed it. 

“ Aim carefully. Hold the ball straight in 
your two hands, and keep your eye on the 
basket. Throw it high enough and hard 



34 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


enough to carry it above the basket so it will 
drop in.” 

In spite of Betty’s explicit directions, her 
friend missed. 

“ Take two more turns. We’ll each take 
three,” Betty encouraged. 

Twice again the girl missed, and Elaine did 
no better. 

Betty made two baskets out of three. “ It 
takes a lot of practice,” she explained. “ I’m 
going to try for the high-school team next 
year; this year I wasn’t allowed to, because 
freshmen aren’t permitted on any of the teams.” 

For twenty minutes they played, Norma and 
Elaine awkwardly, Betty more skillfully, 
patiently explaining to the girls wherein they 
failed. 

A sudden clanging outside, and Betty 
dropped the ball which she had been about to 
pass to Norma. “A fire! Let’s go, girls!” 

Nothing loath, they hurried to the street, 
just as the fire-engine approached. 

“ Oh, Betty! Look, look, look! Adele 
Baxter is coming across. Stop, Adele, stop! ” 
Elaine called. 


BETTY DECIDES ON A CAREER 35 


But Adele, aged three, had dropped an 
apple and was bent on rescuing it. The noise 
of the engine and the clanging of the bell con¬ 
fused her. The driver applied his brakes in 
time to avoid striking her, but the huge truck 
swung around until the rear end threatened 
her, and the thoroughly frightened child was 
running directly in its path. It seemed in¬ 
evitable that the child would be caught under 
the rear wheel. Then, like a flash, Betty 
darted out, reached up to the ladder with her 
right hand, and, with her left, caught Adele 
by the neck of her dress and held her until the 
machine came to a stop. 

A crowd had appeared by that time, as ants 
appear from the ground when their home is 
threatened; a few hasty words, partly thanks 
to Betty, partly warning to the child, and the 
firemen were on their way. 

Mrs. Baxter, coming out of the store, her 
face drawn with terror, pushed through the 
crowd and caught up Adele. 

“ What happened? ” she asked, her voice un¬ 
steady, her eyes wild. ‘‘ Some one told me 
Adele was hurt? She’s—she’s all right? ” 


36 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


“ You can thank Betty Haley for that. 
Those dumb firemen just sat there, and waited 
for the youngster to go under the wheels,” a 
loquacious barber offered. “ Betty got out 
there quicker than I can tell it, hung onto the 
ladder with one hand and grabbed the young¬ 
ster with the other. She hung on until the en¬ 
gine stopped skidding. I call that nerve. 
Too many of the girls is brung up-” 

But no one was listening, for every one was 
talking, except Mrs. Baxter, who was too much 
concerned, and Adele, who was dazed. Mrs. 
Baxter tried to thank Betty. 

‘‘ Oh, it’s nothing! I climb around like a 
cat, anyway,” Betty deprecated. “ I do 
harder tricks than that every day.” 

Reluctantly the crowd dispersed when there 
was no more to hear. By night, the story had 
improved wonderfully. There had been a ma¬ 
chine coming the other way. The child was 
bcTund to be hit by one. Betty had darted be¬ 
tween them. The truck was going full speed 
when it skidded. The driver had not seen the 
child at all. Adele had been dragged twenty 
feet, and was unconscious when Betty picked 



BETTY DECIDES ON A CAREER 37 

her up, just as a wheel was about to pass over 
her. 

While the crowd was busy enlarging on the 
incident, Betty and her friends returned to the 
garage. 

“ S’pose you’ll get a medal, Betty? ” Elaine 
queried solemnly. 

“No! Just for that? I wasn’t afraid. I 
knew what I was doing,” Betty scoffed. 

“ Nobody else did it. There wasn’t another 
second to spare,” Elaine insisted. “You are 
a hero—heroine,” she amended, “ whether you 
get a medal or not.” 

“ Think I’d stand there and watch poor Mrs. 
Baxter’s only kiddie hurt or killed? ” 

Norma and Elaine exchanged significant 
glances, for the words reminded them of Mrs. 
Baxter’s “Tomboy!” uttered in scornful 
tones. 

They were thinking much the same things,— 
the tomboy had a strong right arm to hold to 
the ladder, and a strong left to swing the child 
out of danger. She had thought and acted 
quickly—from practice and confidence. Betty 
could hang by her teeth from a trapeze,—or 




38 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


by her heels or her chin or her toes, for that 
matter. 

Coming out of a reverie, Betty made an an¬ 
nouncement. “ I think I’ll be a gymnasium 
teacher.” 

“ Why not start one this summer for chil¬ 
dren? You have the garage,” Norma sug¬ 
gested eagerly. 

“ You could make money,” Elaine added 
with enthusiasm. 

“ Betty! Betty! ” came a tired voice from 
the house. 

“ Coming, Mother! ” Betty responded cheer¬ 
fully. Come on in with me, girls,” she 
begged. “ I want some one to talk to; I think 
Mother wants me to help her.” 

The girls awaited no second invitation, for, 
like every normal human being that ever lived, 
they loved to get into other people’s houses,— 
other homes; to experience the new atmosphere 
that is peculiar to every home, the “ feel ” of a 
house. Some are warm and friendly; some 
cold, neat, precise, and unemotional; others are 
neat, orderly and yet inviting, lacking the 
touch-me-not look of the too precise house. 



BETTY DECIDES ON A CAREER 39 


There is the disorder that means life and ac¬ 
tion ; the disorder that means carelessness. The 
kind of books lying about tell a whole story in 
themselves,—trashy stuff for melodramatic 
minds, wholesome books and magazines that 
indicate a live interest in current affairs, heavy 
solemn ones that announce the presence of the 
thinker and dreamer. There is the combina¬ 
tion of the two latter that typifies the highest 
class—the aggressive thinker, active, abreast of 
the times. 

The atmosphere in some homes seems thin; in 
the Haley house it fairly tingled with the in¬ 
terests of five young people, of whom Betty 
was the youngest. 

“ I wish you’d peel some of these vegetables, 
Betty. I’m going to order my supplies for 
to-morrow. Come in, girls,” she added hos¬ 
pitably, as the girls hesitated. 

In the big brown kitchen Betty pulled for¬ 
ward chairs for her friends, and seated herself 
on a brown stool before the ugly iron sink. 

“ Put an apron on,” Mrs. Haley admonished, 
smoothing down her faded locks with a work- 
roughened hand. 




40 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


“ I’m going to start a gymnasium, Mother,” 
Betty began with enthusiasm. 

“ Did you see what happened, Mrs. Haley? ” 
Elaine queried. “ Betty ran out and saved 
Adele Baxter just as a fire-truck was about to 
pass over her,—the best stunt she ever did.” 

Mrs. Haley looked wistfully and fondly at 
Betty, whose athletic prowess and optimism 
were always a source of wonder to her shrink¬ 
ing, worried mother. 

“ I’m going to start a gymnasium,” Betty 
repeated, shaking a potato around in the water, 
to remove the dust. 

“ How can you do that? ” Mrs. Haley ques¬ 
tioned in a discouraging voice, turning from 
the doorway where she had been about to de¬ 
part. 

“ Oh, we have lots of gym things,—basket¬ 
ball and trapeze and punching-bag and Indian- 
clubs. Ernest wouldn’t mind if I took care 
of things. I’m going to make money this vaca¬ 
tion,—teach the youngsters while their mothers 
go out.” 

“ You’d soon tire of it. No one would want 
to pay for your nonsense, child. Ernest 





BETTY DECIDES ON A CAREER 41 


wouldn’t want his things knocked around by 
the youngsters,” she summed up. 

Norma felt her spirits go down. There was 
a familiar ring about the conversation, as if she 
had heard it before. Not just this subject, of 
course, but other things the Haley brood had 
wanted to do, and, in her discouraging way, 
Mrs. Haley had squashed them. It was not 
unkindness, but, simply because of her own 
lack of vitality, she could not see the ability of 
her children to overcome obstacles. 

There was something discouraged-looking 
about the brown kitchen—a don’t-care air. 
Norma named it “ It-isn’t-worth-while.” The 
whole house showed a lack of organized effort, 
yet there were things that jumped out at one 
in unexpected places. Norma had blazed in¬ 
side once when some one had referred to the 
Haleys as “ common.” Betty had been her 
friend for years, and she found the Haleys in¬ 
teresting, even to the point of wishing she 
might be one of their lively brood. Every 
Haley seemed wonderful, except, perhaps, the 
tired mother. 

Mr. Haley, slow, quiet, seemed to know 



42 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


everything, from the early history of the Irish 
to the kind of soil in every State in the Union. 
With a guilty feeling of disloyalty, Norma had 
admitted to herself occasionally that he knew 
more than her father; then she would comfort 
herself with the thought that her father knew 
banking and laws and estates and business 
conditions. He—he—what was the word? 
Specialized. He said every one should spe¬ 
cialize ; that when people did not succeed it was 
because they did not pick out one thing—the 
right thing for their qualifications—and stick 
to it. He loved to classify people in a few 
words,—a Jack-of-all-trades, a dreamer, a 
routine man, a born executive, a man with no 
initiative. Because she felt that he would have 
little patience with the Haleys,—might even 
call them shiftless,—Norma had carefully 
avoided mentioning them in connection with 
their talents or ambitions. 

Mrs. Haley returned in a short time, to find 
that Betty had finished. 

“ Anything else. Mother? ” she inquired. 

‘‘ I think Daphne didn’t make her bed. You 
might do that. She’s gone to the special art 






BETTY DECIDES ON A CAREER 43 


exhibit, and wanted to be there when it opened. 
You know what she is where art is concerned.” 

Norma remembered something. “ I always 
forget to ask you, Betty, if your father is re¬ 
lated to the Haleys in Illinois. There was a 
senator there Mother used to know.” 

“ Mr. Haley’s people lived in Illinois,” 
Betty’s mother offered interestedly. 

“ I think his first name is Herbert,” Norma 
added doubtfully. 

“ Yes—there was an Uncle Herbert, but 
we’ve lost track of all Mr. Haley’s people. He 
left Illinois when he was just a boy. I won¬ 
der if it is the same man? ” she mused. 

“ If it is,” Betty predicted, “ Daphne will 
want us to put on more style. Come on up 
with me, girls. I’ll fix her room.” 

The girls followed, and entered a room that 
appeared not to be a part of the house. The 
hand of Daphne showed everywhere. There 
were inexpensive but dainty drapes at the win¬ 
dow, a discarded chair covered with yellow 
denim and appliqued with brown-eyed susans, 
a grey enamel bed and dresser that she had 
decorated herself, prints of good pictures on 


44 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


the walls,—a room of sunshine and harmony, 
the room of some one who loved a sanctuary. 

“ Daphne’s room is pretty,” Elaine admired. 

“ When our ship comes in, I’m going to have 
a prettier one, but Daphne says she would have 
to plan it for me; I might make a mistake in 
my color-scheme. Oh, wouldn’t that be ter¬ 
rible ! ” Betty threw her arm over her eyes 
and shuddered so affectedly that the girls 
laughed. 

Norma remembered that the Haleys fre¬ 
quently used the phrase, “ When our ship 
comes in ” ; it invariably reminded her of the 
saying her father loved: “ You needn’t expect 
your ship to come in unless you have sent one 
out.” 

“ Look at my room,” Betty commanded 
dolefully, as they stopped before the door in 
passing down the hall. “ Annette and I are al¬ 
ways going to fix it up, but I haven’t the 
money, and Annette seems to need all hers for 
her clothes.” 

The room was indeed characterless, contain¬ 
ing a maple bed and dresser, a brown walnut 
' chair in need of refinishing, clothes in evidence. 


BETTY DECIDES ON A CAREER 45 


a honej^comb bedspread, a rag carpet, and limp 
curtains. 

“Look at the boys’ room; it’s part gym¬ 
nasium and part news-stand,” she characterized 
briefly. Scattered about were trophies that 
Ernest had won,—a chest of silver, pennants, 
tennis-racket, and a football. “ He won’t let 
any one use his silver; keeps it in his room.” 

She opened the chest and showed shining - 
rows of unused cutlery. There were pictures 
of teams on the walls,—basketball, football, and 
baseball. At head and foot an iron bed sup¬ 
ported pennants of gorgeous colors but doubt¬ 
ful decorative value. There were law books, a 
small encyclopedia, a physical-culture journal, 
and a “ highbrow ” magazine in evidence. 

“ Here’s Ernest’s gold medal in mathe¬ 
matics,” said Betty, indicating a beribboned 
medallion hanging from the wall. “ He has a 
silver one he got for two years of honor work, 
and the gold medal is for three. He got a 
fourth-year honor, too, but they only give two 
medals in one subject to one person. Father 
says it’s a shame he doesn’t use his head for 
figures, instead of selling in a sporting-goods 



46 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


store, but he knew all the athletes in the city, 
and Baldwin’s offered him the place because of 
that; it brings in customers.” 

They descended the carpeted and somewhat 
scuffy stair. The whole house was like an un¬ 
tidy laboratory of humanity; healthy youth, 
brains, and ambition stood about in it like bot¬ 
tles without labels or directions for use. The 
disorder was the result of mental conflict,— 
wanting to do one thing and doing another. 
There were signs of aspirations and laziness 
fighting for supremacy, and somewhere a cause 
for it all,—a negative thought persisted in, a 
too-easy philosophy. The inhabitants seemed 
as though composed of chemicals that would 
not mix without the proper medium. 

“ What does Annette do? ” Norma queried 
with the deep respect she felt for any one as 
grown-up as Betty’s older sister. 

“ She’s a filing clerk,” Betty replied. 

“ What’s that? ” Elaine wanted to know. It 
sounded tremendously important. 

“ Oh, she puts away letters in the right 
places in a file. Every customer has a number, 
and a little card tells what the number is. She 


BETTY DECIDES ON A CAREER 47 


knows just where to find them when they’re 
wanted, anyway,” Betty finished vaguely. 
“ Stenographers get more money, so she’s go¬ 
ing to take a course in shorthand some day. 
She says so many are poor at spelling and 
grammar and punctuation that there’s always 
room for a good one. My, it’s fun having your 
own money and paying your board, and then 
doing as you please with the rest. That’s why 
Ann doesn’t start the stenography course. She 
would have to stop work for a few months.” 

“ What’s Dax^hne going to be? ” Norma pur¬ 
sued. 

‘‘ Oh, some kind of artist, of course! She 
says she isn’t going to sit around and talk about 
doing things,—that was a crack at Ernest and 
George and Annette,—she’s going to do them. 
Daphne thinks she has more get-up-and-go 
than the others,” Betty explained delightedly. 
“ I don’t care; I’m going to be a gym teacher; 
I’m sure of that/^ 

“ Maybe George takes after your Uncle 
Herbert, if he is your uncle. George won de¬ 
bates and things, didn’t he? ” Norma ques¬ 
tioned, for she felt an insatiable curiosity con- 



48 NORMA’S FRIENDS 

cerning the careers of Betty’s brothers and sis¬ 
ters. 

“ Yes, Father says all his people had the gift 
of gab. George loves law and reads law books, 
but he’d have to take a regular university 
course to be admitted to the bar,—that’s what 
they say when a man gets to be a lawyer,” she 
explained. “ It sounds funny, but it’s all right. 
George is selling insurance and doing pretty 
well, but Father says he ought to look ahead a 
little.” 

“ Let’s go out and see how you could fix the 
yard and garage for your gymnasium,” Norma 
suggested, for she dearly loved plans, and felt 
it was Betty’s turn to start her career. Indeed, 
she felt honored in being allowed to listen to 
Betty’s discussion of the things that lay nearest 
the hearts of the five Haleys. 


CHAPTER III 


THE MYSTERIOUS BLACK BOX 

On Sunday morning, when Norma climbed 
into the back seat of the St. Clairs’ car, for the 
fifty-mile drive to Portland, she admitted to 
herself that it did not seem one bit like start¬ 
ing for a funeral. It was the fate of Jimmy 
Rogers that held her thoughts. Jimmy had 
been left by his mother to her friend. Cousin 
Selina St. Clair, who had lived with Mrs. 
Rogers ever since her husband’s death; that 
was when Jimmy was three. Cousin Selina 
had an income of her own, and the home was 
Jimmy’s; they were attached to one another, 
and so had lived together until the woman’s 
sudden death. 

As far back as Norma could remember, 

Jimmy’s visits had been a source of delight to 

her, and he alwavs seemed to leave some 

tangible token of his good-will. Once he had 

built her dog a kennel; another time he had 

built a swinging seat and suspended it from the 

49 


50 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


horse-chestnut tree in the back yard; he had 
even planed the drawer of her precious desk 
when it had stuck. She liked his light-brown 
curly hair and fair skin, and the smiling mouth 
that showed even teeth; his grey eyes were 
kindly and serious. Jimmy had not teased, and 
had not treated her as if she were just a girl. 

Norma looked down at the box of flowers on 
the seat beside her; it meant that Jimmy had 
not a home any more,—unless his uncle’s wife 
would not think he was a bother, now that he 
was sixteen. 

When they stopped before the spick-and- 
span grey-and-white house, the girl half ex¬ 
pected to see Jimmy run out, as he always had. 
Inside everything was quiet. Jimmy glanced 
at her as if he did not really see her. It was 
surprising to see him much taller, and wearing 
long trousers. 

It was a relief when it was all over and they 
rode back to the house that had been Jimmy’s 
home. The reading of the will bored Norma, 
—most of it,—for nothing seemed really to 
matter except what would become of Jimmy. 
Mr. St. Clair was appointed executor and the 



THE MYSTERIOUS BLACK BOX 51 


boy’s guardian. The house had belonged to 
Jimmy’s parents, and so, of course, was his. 
Cousin Selina had little to leave, for she had 
depended on a yearly income which stopped at 
her death,—insurance of some sort. The will 
mentioned a black box which the boy’s mother 
had requested should not be opened until he 
was eighteen. Apparently it held whatever 
else Mrs. Rogers had left to her son. 

“ It’s all nonsense, not opening that black 
box,” Jimmy’s Aunt Frances declared em¬ 
phatically, a calculating light in her cold blue 
eyes. 

“ If it’s the will of the boy’s mother, it will 
be carried out,” the lawyer stated evenly, look¬ 
ing sharply at the aunt, who, he knew, had 
never bothered with her husband’s nephew. 

Evidently ashamed of his wife’s interference, 
the boy’s Uncle Arthur put in hastily, I think 
his mother bought stock that was no good, and 
didn’t want it known.” 

The aunt appeared to lose interest on hear¬ 
ing this, and seemed impatient to have the 
scene over with. 

Mr. St. Clair cleared his throat. He was 


52 NORMA’S FRIENDS 

usually very sure of himself, but Norma knew 
he was embarrassed at having to discuss before 
Jimmy what must be said now. 

“ What of the boy’s future? ” he asked slowly. 

Jimmy, his face flushed, did not look up. 
His Uncle Arthur squirmed and looked un¬ 
happy. 

“ I can take care of myself,” Jimmy inter¬ 
rupted in a low voice, without looking at any 
one. 

“ Mrs. St. Clair and I have talked the mat¬ 
ter over, and will be glad to look after the boy 
until he is twenty-one,” Norma’s father went 
on, ‘‘ if that is satisfactory to every one.” 

Norma felt her heart thump. Oh, how she 
had wanted Jimmy for a brother—always! 
She glanced quickly at the boy’s uncle. Sup¬ 
pose some one objected. She held her breath, 
but felt relieved when Aunt Frances began 
picking up her wraps. It did not seem pos¬ 
sible they would not want Jimmy. At the 
door, Jimmy’s uncle stopped long enough to 
say in an embarrassed way, “ Let me know if 
there’s anything I can do,” and left with his 
wife. 


THE MYSTERIOUS BLACK BOX 53 


“ I can work,” Jimmy stated when the door 
had closed. 

“ Eventually, Son,” Mr. St. Clair replied. 
“ In the meantime suppose we rent this house 
and you come and live with us? The rent will 
pretty nearly cover your expenses, if that’s 
what’s worrying you. I think you can make 
vourself useful and earn a little on the side, so 
that you will be as independent as you please,” 
he finished tactfully, placing his hand on 
Jimmy’s shoulder. 

“ I hadn’t thought about renting the house,” 
said Jimmy, brightening considerably at the 
idea. “ I’m grateful to you and Aunt Alice 
for wanting to take me. I—I—appreciate it.” 
He looked questioningly at Norma’s mother, 
who smiled a welcome. 

“ We want you, Jimmy,” Mrs. St. Clair 
said. “ Come home with us for a few days; 
then you can finish school here, since there are 
only a few weeks left of the term. You can 
stay here during the school-days and come 
home week-ends. Next year you can attend 
Newbury High School. Now run along and 
pack.” 


54 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


“ By the way, Jimniy, where is the black 
box? ” Mr. St. Clair asked casuall}^ “ In the 
desk, I suppose? ” 

At the hall-door Jimmy hesitated. “ Why, 
I’m not sure.” He walked over to the fine old 
secretary which had belonged to his grand¬ 
father, and searched through pigeonholes and 
shelves in vain, finding only the small key on a 
red ribbon. 

“ I’ll look in the clothes-closets and dresser- 
drawers,” he announced, starting up the stairs. 

In twenty minutes Jimmy came down with 
a suitcase. “ I looked everywhere. I guess no 
stranger will find it, if I can’t,” he concluded^ 
setting down the heavy black suitcase. 

At that, Mr. St. Clair and Norma joined in 
the search,—pantry, bookcases, sideboard, 
everywhere that a black tin box might be con¬ 
cealed. 

“ Did you look in the summer kitchen? ” 
Mrs. St. Clair asked, as they returned from the 
kitchen, looking somewhat disconcerted. 

“ Yes, but there’s nothing there,” Jimmy re¬ 
plied. “ Aunt Selina certainly couldn’t have 
taken up the floor.” 


THE MYSTERIOUS BLACK BOX 55 


‘‘You don’t think she put it in a safe- 
deposit box at the bank? ” Norma’s father in¬ 
quired, for that seemed to him the reasonable, 
natural place for it. 

“ No, she always hid it around the house, but 
changed the hiding-place occasionally. I just 
don’t happen to know where the last one was,” 
Jimmy stated. 

“ Well, as you say, Jimmy, if we can’t find 
it, it isn’t likely any one else can,” Norma com¬ 
forted. “ Suppose it’s never found,” she sug¬ 
gested mysteriously. 

“We really should be starting home,” Mr. 
St. Clair hinted, looking at his watch. “ Let’s 
go over every room again, each one looking 
where he hasn’t looked before, as a check on 
one another’s detective powers.” 

Another half-hour of search proved fruitless. 
The black box had become the mysterious black 
box. 

The ride home that night Norma never for¬ 
got. Jimmy sat beside her in the rear of the 
car, his bag on the floor; he was actually going 
home with her, to be one of the family for sev¬ 
eral years at least. 


56 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


To keep his mind from his recent sorrow, 
Norma told him of all the people he knew in 
Newbury, especially the Haleys, their ambi¬ 
tions, and the senator who might be their uncle. 

“ You’ll be a junior in high school next year, 
won’t you, Jimmy? ” 

“ If I pass the exams next week,” he con¬ 
ceded. 

“ Then what are you going to be? ” 

“ An efficiency engineer—they eliminate 
waste and lost motion around factories and of¬ 
fices; find better ways of doing things,” he ex¬ 
plained. 

Norma looked admiringly at him. She had 
often wondered how it felt to have a brother or 
a sister, and now she knew at least something 
of the feeling. 

‘‘ I’ll be in high school, too, you know,” she 
reminded. “ I’ll expect you to take me to all 
the games.” 

“ That won’t be any hardship,” Jimmy re¬ 
turned, “ providing you let me explain them 
before, and not in the middle of the game.” 

As she watched the smile that played about 
his mouth, she suddenly remembered that if 



THE MYSTERIOUS BLACK BOX 57 

Jimmy had been left in Portland, he would 
either be alone in his house, or at his Uncle 
Arthur’s, where he was not wanted. Even the 
thought brought the tears to her eyes, and she 
turned away, that Jimmy might not see. 

When she turned to her new “ brother,” she 
was smiling. “ I’m glad you are coming home 
with us, Jimmy,” she told him. 

“ Maybe you think I’m not glad! ” Jimmy 
returned huskily. 


CHAPTER IV 


UNCLE Herbert’s gifts 

One warm June evening Norma ran up the 
steps of the Haley home to the veranda, where 
the seven Haleys happened to be at one time, 
though Annette and Ernest were about to 
leave. 

‘‘ I’ve got news for you, Betty,—for all of 
you,” Norma added, stopping to get her 
breath. “ Mother heard from your Uncle Her¬ 
bert and Aunt Minnie,—she wrote them, you 
know,—and they are your relatives. Your 
Aunt Minnie says they may stop here on their 
trip East in a couple of weeks. She wanted 
Mother to give you the letter, as it will explain 
everything.” 

From the pocket of her middy-blouse the 
girl fished out a letter and handed it to Mr. 
Haley. “ Mother was going to call on the 
telephone, but I was coming over, anyway, 

with the letter, so I told her not to.” 

68 




UNCLE HERBERT’S GIFTS 


59 


She did hope they would not know she just 
could hardly wait to tell it and see the effect. 

“ The whole house will have to be fixed up,” 
Daphne pronounced promptly, before any one 
else had a chance to speak. 

George was placing a chair for Norma, but 
she preferred to sit on the railing beside Betty, 
where she could face them all. When she felt 
a sly nudge, Norma remembered the day that 
Betty had predicted Daphne’s words. 

‘‘We simply can’t afford it,” Mrs. Haley 
objected quietly. 

“ With George and Annette and Ernest 
working, I don’t see why we can’t,” Daphne re¬ 
turned. 

There was something surprising about 
Daphne’s energy, for she did not look aggres¬ 
sive. She had a small, mild face that was mis¬ 
leading until one noticed that her mouth was 
firm and the dark eyes direct, as if going 
straight to the point. She looked more like her 
father than any of the other children did. 

“ It’s easy for you to talk,” George defended 
for himself and the two others who worked. 
“ Wait until you start earning money and 


60 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


you’ll see how many places there are for it. 
You go to school, dab in paints when you’re 
home, arid then try to tell the workers what to 
do with their money,” he summed up in an 
injured tone. “ If you were my daughter, 
you’d be spanked for it.” 

As he spoke he looked at Ernest and Annette 
for approval. They laughed delightedly at the 
neat way their brother had disposed of Daphne 
and her high ideas. 

But Daphne ignored this with a challenging 
question.. “You want them to think we’re 
shiftless? ” 

“ Daphne, you’re always stirring things up,” 
her mother remonstrated mildly, but uneasily. 
“ I’m sure we aren’t shiftless.” 

Daphne reached over and patted her mother’s 
shoulder, quite as if their ages had been re¬ 
versed. 

“ Things need stirring up. Mother, around 
here, and if we aren’t shiftless, we surely don’t 
do all we could do. George and Ernest made 
good records in school and let it stop there. 
Annette takes half the salary she could get, if 
she would put three months’ work on prepar- 


UNCLE HERBERT’S GIFTS 


61 


ing herself for something,” Daphne pointed 
out. “ Shiftless is a strong word, but you 
know what I mean.” 

Always, when the Haleys talked, Norma felt 
a deep interest, as if something was about to 
happen, and she almost prayed that she might 
be around when it did. 

“ Annette pays her board and buys her own 
clothes. When you’re doing as much, it will 
be high time to criticize,” Ernest declared. 

Privately Betty had told her friend that 
Ernest protested that Annette was much too 
good-looking to work at all, and that he de¬ 
fended her “ against all comers ”—whatever 
that meant. Occasionally he informed the 
family that Bill or Fred or Charles had said 
Annette was a good-looking girl, or that she 
knew what to wear, or she had style. ‘‘ He 
takes her everywhere he can,” Betty had said, 
“ to show her off.” 

As Norma watched Annette, she did not 
wonder that Ernest was proud of her. Her 
eyes were grey and nicely shaped, her face oval, 
her nose straight. She did have style and 
looks. Ernest himself was rather nondescript. 



62 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


slaty eyes, a dull skin, and colorless hair, as 
near light-brown as anything else. Betty was 
the only real blonde. 

Four salaries in one house,” Daphne was 
saying. “ You could get things if you wanted 
to. Couldn’t they. Father? ” she appealed. 

Mr. Haley’s eyes twinkled, and he rubbed 
his bald head before replying. “ Leave me out 
of this. If there’s anything to be said, one of 
you five will be certain to think of it. That’s 
one of the doubtful advantages of being the 
parent of five youngsters—isn’t it. Mother? ” 

“ I guess your Uncle Herbert and Aunt 
Minnie will know that it costs something to 
raise five children,” Mrs. Haley remarked. 
She seldom answered questions directly, and 
was as good at changing the subject as Daphne 
was at bringing it back to the main point. 

“ Couldn’t we have a new rug for the living- 
room? ” Daphne began anew. 

“ Oh, I’ll do my share,” Ernest replied, glad 
to escape so easily. “ Come on, Annette; the 
boat leaves at eight-fifteen.” 

After they left, George felt himself to be 
the sole object of his sister’s attack. 


UNCLE HERBERT’S GIFTS 


63 


“ If Uncle Herbert and Aunt Minnie don’t 
like the house, they can fix it up themselves,” 
he opined lazily. 

“ It shouldn’t be necessary for them to, and 
you should be the last one to suggest it,” 
Daphne returned with asperity. 

“ What harm is he doing, Daphne? ” Mrs. 
Haley queried in defense of her favorite. 

“ I just wish he had more ambition. Mother.” 
Daphne sighed, and picked up the paper. 
“ Shall I read to you. Father? ” 

Her father nodded. All day he used his 
eyes in poring over books, and when the ob¬ 
servant Daphne noticed that it strained them 
to be used at night, she appointed herself 
reader. 

“You can tell them I fixed the garage,” 
Betty ventured, for she hated to see a lively dis¬ 
cussion dropped. 

“ I think you’re going to amount to some¬ 
thing, Betty; if there’s anything you can do, 
you try it.” She had lowered the paper long 
enough to smile approvingly at Betty. 

“ That will be two of us,” Betty replied in a 
sugary voice, “ out of five.” 


64 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


Even Mrs. Haley smiled at the thrust, and 
George made a mental note to tell the absent 
Haleys when they should return. 

Though Norma regretted that it was time to 
go home, she was deeply grateful for the 
opportunity of having witnessed the entire 
scene. 

“ Walk part way home with me, Betty,” she 
coaxed. 

With her usual energy, Betty bounded up. 
“ Course,” she agreed, and started down the 
street, her arm through Norma’s. 

“ I hope it isn’t going to be too much bother 
having a senator for an uncle,” Betty remarked 
in a falsetto voice, then laughed with Norma. 
“ How would you like to be a Haley ? ” she 
queried. 

“ I’d love it,” Norma replied sincerely. 
“ It’s awfully tame when there’s no one to 
argue with, but I’m going to start training 
Jimmy. He hasn’t had any practice, either, 
you know.” 

The night before the distinguished Haley 
relatives arrived, Betty invited Norma in to 
see the new rug. Ernest, who had paid for 


UNCLE HERBERT’S GIFTS 65 

one-fifth of it, stood in the doorway with his 
hands in his pockets, looking, as Betty whis¬ 
pered, like the sole proprietor. 

“ I suppose we might have done more,—if 
we’d had time,” he remarked musingly, evi¬ 
dently pleased with himself. 

Taken individually, the pieces of furniture 
in the Haley living-room were shabby, but, as 
a whole. Daphne’s redeeming hand showed. 
Daphne controlled such items as arrangement 
of pictures, banishment of bric-a-brac; Daphne 
unscrewed the bright overhead lights, so they 
could not be turned on to “ show things up,” 
and conjured soft shades for the inexpensive 
lamps; Daphne re-upholstered worn chairs 
with remnants of good pieces bought for a 
song. 

“ Father says your uncle is rated at over two 
million dollars,” Norma informed them. 

George whistled, and Mrs. Haley looked off, 
as if trying to visualize such a sum. 

“ I bet he’s tighter than the paper on the 
wall. They always are,” Ernest opined. 

“ If he is, he has a right to be,” Daphne re¬ 
turned meaningly. 


66 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


Though the newly found Uncle Herbert and 
Aunt Minnie arrived the following morning, it 
was dinner-time before Mr. Haley and the 
three older children met them. 

“ It seems good to sit down with a big 
family at the table,” Uncle Herbert beamed. 
“ Things taste better. Of course,” he apol¬ 
ogized to Mrs. Haley, “ it’s hard on the house¬ 
mother.” 

“ I’m used to cooking for seven,” Mrs. 
Haley replied. “ I don’t mind a few more, and 
Daphne always helps with desserts and things. 
Betty sets the table.” 

“Yes, Daphne bosses the pretty things, like 
salads and desserts,” Betty explained airily. 
“No one else could make them attractive 
enough. Artists have to have attractive food, 
you know,” she informed them mincingly. 

The subject of Betty’s banter merely smiled. 

“ So Daphne is going to be an artist? ” Aunt 
Minnie queried in her slow voice. Aunt Minnie 
was heavy, and seemed to have acquired the 
habit of doing everything slowly. 

“ What are the rest of you? ” Uncle Her¬ 
bert inquired interestedly. “ It seems as if I 


UNCLE HERBERT’S GIFTS 


67 


ought to know more about my own nephews 
and nieces/’ 

‘‘ Ernest has a head for mathematics,—quick 
as a flash with figures,” his father declared 
proudly. “If he had a chance somewhere, he 
would make a first-class expert accountant. 
They get big money, too.” 

“ Is your work giving you any experience, 
Ernest?” his uncle questioned pointedly. It 
developed that Uncle Herbert had a keen way 
of going to the bottom of things. 

“ No, Uncle Herbert, that’s just the trou¬ 
ble,” Ernest answered seriously. “ I have a 
pretty good job selling sporting goods, but 
there’s no future in it,—unless I could buy the 
store,” he added as an afterthought. “ Mr. 
Baldwin says I have a head for business.” 

“ George is going to be a lawyer,” his mother 
began. “ He won debates in school, and al¬ 
ways has his nose in a book. He’s selling in¬ 
surance, and doing pretty well, but we think 
it’s a shame he can’t go to college.” Mrs. 
Haley sighed regretfully. 

“ Are you still in school, Annette? ” Aunt 
Minnie asked. 




68 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


“No, I finished high school. I’m in an of¬ 
fice,” Annette informed her aunt briefly. An¬ 
nette never wasted words. 

“ I say it’s a shame we can’t afford one 
lady,” Ernest began, and Daphne and Betty 
exchanged winks. “ Betty’s a tomboy, and 
Daphne wouldn’t keep still if she could, but I 
always said Annette ought to be the lady of 
the family.” 

“You think you can work and still be a 
lady? Is that it. Daphne? ” Uncle Herbert in¬ 
quired slyly, his eyes twinkling. 

“ I like to keep busy,” Daphne replied, “ and 
I think it more ladylike to be useful and inde¬ 
pendent than to be idle.” 

“ If I read that statement in Africa, I’d say 
‘ Daphne ’ ! ” George brought down his fist on 
his palm for emphasis. 

Betty chuckled and nudged her father de¬ 
lightedly, for she gloried in her sister’s definite 
character and positive ways. 

“ What sort of art work are you specializing 
in,—portraits? I suppose I might as well sit 
for mine now as any time, if you are,” Uncle 
Herbert offered. 


UNCLE HERBERT’S GIFTS 


69 


“ I’m not sure just what I’ll do,” Daphne re¬ 
turned thoughtfully. “ I’m not going to start 
out with the idea of being a great artist within 
a year, and I’m not going to sigh over Paris 
schools and travel. I’m going to get all I can 
here in Newbury and start with the small 
things. I’ll try all the branches—like dress¬ 
designing and commercial work, until I find 
my metier'' 

Uncle Herbert looked at her closely, but did 

t 

not reply. 

“ After you get too big to be a tomboy, what 
are you going to be, Betty? ” he demanded. 

“ A gymnasium teacher! ” the entire family 
chorused. 

Every one laughed, and Betty looked some¬ 
what abashed. She had intended telling it in 
a very dignified way. 

“ There isn’t a day that she doesn’t tell us 
that she’s going to be a gym teacher,” Ernest 
explained to his uncle and aunt, who had 
guessed as much. “ I’m surprised that you 
haven’t heard it.” 

As usual, Daphne rose to Betty’s defense, 
and told of her saving Adele Baxter, and of 



70 NORMA’S FRIENDS 

all the stunts she had learned without breaking 
her neck. 

“ Well, it’s nice to have definite plans,” 
Uncle Herbert pronounced. “ It’s the first 
step toward success. I’m going to be proud of 
you all,” he beamed. “ The Haleys usually 
amount to something, and I predict that this 
batch will be better than the usual run.” 

On the day the visitors left. Uncle Herbert 
made them all promise to write and let him 
know how they were getting on. “I have no 
children of my own to make me proud,” he re¬ 
minded, ‘‘ so you will have to make it up to me. 
I’m going to the bank,” he announced, look¬ 
ing at his watch; “ then,” with a twinkle in his 
eye, “ you’ll hear from me.” 

When they had left, Betty paced the floor in 
mock anxiety. “ This suspense is terrible. I’m 
completely unnerved.” That was the favorite 
saying of Mrs. Carpenter next door, and Betty 
used it, with variations, whenever she was par¬ 
ticularly excited. 

At four o’clock there came a ring at the 
door-bell, and Betty opened the door to two 
husky delivery-men, who set down a heavy, 


UNCLE HERBERT’S GIFTS 


71 


handsome bookcase, and wiped their damj) 
foreheads before asking, “ Where’ll we put 
it?” 

‘‘ Why, I don’t think it’s for us,” Betty be¬ 
gan. 

“Yup! Haley—245 Second Street,” an¬ 
swered one of them, glancing at the tag. 

That was the beginning. Heavy boxes con¬ 
tinued to arrive, until, by dinner-time, when 
the entire family was present, commotion 
reigned. 

“ The canvases and drawing-paper and 
palette are for me. There’s no question about 
that,” Daphne affirmed. 

“No one disputes you. Daphne. Get them 
out of the road,” George admonished good- 
naturedly, as he lifted the volumes of a very 
complete and expensive encyclopedia from 
their box. 

“ Here are biographies of Franklin and Lin¬ 
coln ! ” Ernest exclaimed. “ Do you suppose 
we have to read all these things? ” 

George, prying at a fresh box, pulled away 
the paper protector inside. “ Law books,” he 
offered laconically, and immediately sat down 


72 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


on the floor and began to read, in spite of his 
mother’s protest that dinner was getting cold 
and must be eaten. 

“ They call this set the ‘ Rudiments of Art,’ ” 
Daphne remarked from her seat on the edge of 
a box, “ but it seems to contain everything an 
artist would need to know—sculpture, furni¬ 
ture, birds, trees, conventional designs— 
um-m-m,” her voice trailed off, as something 
arrested her attention. 

“ A course in accounting, Ernest,” Mr. 
Haley announced, looking up from a book he 
had selected. ‘‘ This must be for you.” 

If you don’t come to dinner immediately, 
I won’t be responsible if the food is cold,” Mrs. 
Haley threatened desperately. 

At this ominous remark the Haleys seated 
themselves at the table. 

‘‘ I guess the poetry and the encyclopedia 
are for you and me,” Annette remarked con¬ 
solingly to Betty. 

“ Do you suppose the encyclopedia tells how 
to conduct a gymnasium? ” Betty queried 
promptly. 

“ Wasn’t that a peculiar thing for Uncle 


UNCLE HERBERT’S GIFTS 


73 


Herbert to do?” Ernest inquired disap¬ 
pointedly. 

‘‘ Not so peculiar,” Daphne replied tersely, 
taking up the defense of her absent uncle. 
“ He had a good chance to get acquainted with 
us. I think he is hinting that there are plenty 
of things we can do for ourselves, and that 
books will teach us anything we want to learn, 
and that we Haleys are inclined to be-” 

“ Daphne, you’re stirring things up,” her 
mother objected. 

“ That’s all right, Mother. You leave the 
children to me. I’ll make you proud of them 
yet,” Daphne predicted confidently. “ All 
they need is a little stirring up.” 

“ I wish I had the money I put in the rug,” 
was Ernest’s sole comment. 



CHAPTER V 


THE PICNIC 

On the first day of the last week of school. 
Miss Rice’s pupils were restless, but so were 
the pupils of every other teacher in Newbury. 
There is only one last week of school in a year. 

“ I may as well tell you,” Miss Rice smiled, 
‘‘ that there will be a school picnic on Satur¬ 
day at Silver Lake; the boat will leave at nine- 
thirty and return at five-thirty. Those who 
care to go will please let me know, so I can 
reserve tickets, which will be half the usual 
price.” 

There was more wriggling, as friends ex¬ 
changed glances and smiles of approval. 

“ Bring your own lunches,—and try to for¬ 
get the picnic during this week’s examinations, 
which are fairly important, since they deter¬ 
mine whether you will spend next year here or 
in high school.” She smiled and began hand¬ 
ing papers to the pupils. 

Somehow the warm, long days of that last 

74 


THE PICNIC 


75 


week dragged by, and Saturday dawned a 
promising picnic-day. 

“ I have a funny feeling that something will 
happen to-day, Norma,” Elaine hinted in her 
spookiest voice, as they walked to the dock. 

As Elaine’s mother was dead, her Aunt 
Margaret kept house for the McDonalds, and 
Aunt Margaret had just enough Irish in her 
to make her love mysticism. Occasionally it 
affected Elaine and Gene, her smaller sister. 

“ Well, I should hope so,” Norma returned 
emphatically. “ That’s what we’re going for 
—and don’t act mysterious,” she scolded, 
laughing at Elaine’s round eyes. “ And, oh, 
Elaine! I didn’t tell you that Betty called up 
last night, and she and Carma and Helen 
Hartland are going. Jimmy would have come, 
but he’s gone to Portland for the rest of his 
belongings.” 

“ You brought your bathing-suit, I hope? ” 
Elaine queried suddenly, as they neared the 
dock where Betty and Carma were already 
waiting. 

“ Yes, it’s more important than my lunch, 
and I didn’t forget that,” Norma returned. 


76 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


waving to Betty, whom she singled out from 
the great throngs of young people, for all the 
schools of the city were represented. 

If the girls had not been so impatient to 
reach the sandy beach, they would have en¬ 
joyed the lake-ride more, though Carina, who 
disliked to move on account of her bulk, said 
she would be content to sit on the boat all day. 
Carma was as sweet-natured and attractive as 
she was fat. 

“ There’ll be plenty of time for a swim be¬ 
fore lunch,” Betty remarked contentedly, as 
she looked at the clock in the cabin. 

“ There won’t be time for me to swim be¬ 
fore lunch,” Norma declared solemnly, and 
Betty laughed. 

But Elaine missed the point. “ Why not? ” 
she demanded. 

“ Because it will take me years to learn, 
dearie,” Norma replied. 

“ In some colleges they won’t let you grad¬ 
uate until you can swim fifty strokes, Norma,” 
Betty teased. “ You’d better hurry.” 

At eleven o’clock the boat docked, and the 
girls rushed for the park, where they tried out 


THE PICNIC 77 

the various amusements, then returned to the 
bath-house to prepare for their swim. 

“ Wedl stay in a half-hour,” Betty an¬ 
nounced, “ then come out for lunch.” 

She ran into the water without waiting for 
the rest, who stood back and shivered in an¬ 
ticipation of the cold water. 

“ Did you see that, Norma? ” Elaine queried. 
‘‘ I don’t believe she knows that the water is 
cold.” 

Norma laughed delightedly. ‘‘You wouldn’t 
expect Betty to go in with a mincing step and 
stop to shiver, would you? ” 

At the picture of Betty proceeding in any 
such manner, Elaine laughed. 

“ I wish I could swim,” Norma sighed. 

“ Same here, but we’ll have to paddle, as 
usual.” 

For an hour the girls played, then the crowds 
began drifting away toward the park, and 
lunches appeared. 

“I’ll beat you getting dressed,” Betty chal¬ 
lenged, racing toward the bath-house. 

“ I don’t doubt it,” Elaine answered pleas¬ 
antly, knowing her challenger. 


78 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


In twenty minutes the girls were spreading 
out what looked like too much lunch, but 
proved to be just enough. 

“ It’s funny how much we can eat when 
we’re outdoors. At home I couldn’t eat half 

) 

so much,” Norma declared as she finished a 
second piece of Betty’s cake. 

“ I wonder how much those water-balls 
cost,” Betty mused, looking toward the gay 
stand with its heaj) of huge, striped balls. 

‘‘ Fifty cents,” Carma informed her 
promptly. I priced them, and can’t afford 
one,—^v^orse luck,” she added. 

‘‘ Neither can I,” Norma decided after a 
moment’s swift reckoning. “ I’ve tied all my 
money up in cinnamon suckers.” 

“ A banker’s daughter should be more far¬ 
sighted,” Betty reproved. “ How about you, 
Elaine? ” 

“ I had three rides on the caterpillar, and 
two on the roller-coaster, and I had to buy a 
bathing-cap, you know,” Elaine apologized. 

“ Don’t ask me,” Helen Hartland begged. 
‘‘ I have just thirty-two cents left, and I spent 
my money as conscientiously as I could.” 


THE PICNIC 


79 


‘‘ Then we’ll have to form a company and 
purchase one,” Betty concluded, “ just as I 
suspected from the first.” 

Purses appeared from mysterious places, 
and a collection was taken. 

“ Whose will it be when we’re finished with 
it, Betty? You’re so smart at arranging 
things. Tell us that/' Carma challenged, her 
dark blue eyes sparkling with fun. 

For a moment Betty was nonplussed. She 
looked about helplessly for inspiration, while 
the girls watched smilingly, to see how the re¬ 
sourceful Betty would meet the emergency. 

“ That’s simple,” Betty stated coolly, as she 
began to wrap up the remains of her lunch-box 
for future reference. “ We’ll donate it to those 
fresh-air youngsters from the camp down the 
beach.” She nodded in the direction of a band 
of khaki-clad tots. 

The girls applauded, and Betty sighed with 
relief. “ You almost had me, girls.” 

“ What shall we do now? ” Helen asked, 
getting up briskly from the green bench they 
had taken at the end of the grove. “ We 
mustn’t waste any time.” 


80 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


“ We’re going to rest for those races,—at 
least I am,” Betty amended. “ Judge Cole 
furnishes the prizes, and they’re always worth 
running after. I wish I had remembered the 
races while I was eating so much,” she added 
regretfully. 

“ Let’s go and sit in the sand. I love to feel 
warm sand under me,” Norma suggested lazily. 
“ And we can see just about everything that’s 
going on without moving.” 

“ And we can spread our bathing-suits out 
to dry, so they will be ready when we want to 
go in again.” Elaine unrolled her own wet 
suit, and the others followed her example. 

At two o’clock, the time set for the games, 
the school crowd gathered in the grove and 
watched excited preparations for entering. 
The races for the smaller children were held 
first, then the fifty-yard dash for older girls. 

When Helen Hartland and Betty lined up 
for the start, the others gave advice. 

“ Keep away from the crowd,” Elaine ad¬ 
monished, “ so you won’t get tripped. There 
are so many entering.” 

“ Make a quick turn to come back,” Carma 


THE PICNIC 


81 


warned, though she never had run a race in her 
life, owing to the fact that she was not built for 
running. 

“ Get a good start,” Norma advised. 
‘‘ That’s everything.” 

“ Children,” Betty drawled, when she felt 
that she had stood enough, “ I ran races when 
you were in swaddling-clothes. I used to climb 
out of the cradle and dress up in Annette’s 
clothes, and enter races. People always took 
me for much older than I was.” 

“ I’m inclined to believe that about crawling 
out of the cradle to enter races,” Carma 
laughed. “ It has the ring of truth in it.” 

“ On the line! ” a bass voice called. 

There was a shot, and twenty girls were off, 
many of them dropping out because of a poor 
start, or seeing much better runners. Betty’s 
friends squealed with delight when she reached 
the goal first, and, with a quick turn, dashed 
back to the starting-point an easy winner. 

It was Betty’s turn to squeal when Judge 
Cole handed her a tennis-racket. “ Just ex¬ 
actly what I wanted,” she exulted. “ If I’d 
had my choice of anything in the world, I’d 


82 NORMA’S FRIENDS 

have said a tennis-racket,” she cried enthusias¬ 
tically. 

After the games were over, the girls started 
back to the bath-house. 

“ Now to get our water-ball in motion,” 
Betty exclaimed. “ Last one in the water is 
an Egyptian mummy!” And the girls fol¬ 
lowed her, helter-skelter, to the lockers. 

In a short time the gay ball was the center 
of a huge ring that scattered to grab it as it 
bobbed tantalizingly on the surface of the 
water, its colors sparkling as it became wet. 
It was like Betty to invite every one she knew 
to join her circle, and she knew a great many. 
As the ring grew in size, the noise and con¬ 
fusion and laughter that attended their antics, 
in trying to get the ball, increased, until they 
were the center of attraction both to the people 
on shore and those in the water. 

By the middle of the afternoon every one 
who had a bathing-suit was in the water, and 
the shallow edge of the lake became a dense 
mass of bobbing heads, from which it was dif¬ 
ficult to distinguish any one person. 

At four o’clock Elaine glanced about casu- 


THE PICNIC 


83 


ally, then more carefully, until finally she was 
frowning anxiously. “ I wonder where Norma 
is, Carma,” she said, still craning her neck 
to see over all heads. ‘‘ It’s getting late, and 
we have to dress for the boat and dry our suits. 
I don’t see her anywhere. She didn’t say any¬ 
thing about going in to get dressed. Betty! 
Betty! ” she called. “ Did you see Norma? ” 

Betty looked toward the beach. “ What’s 
that crowd? ” she demanded. 

As rapidly as possible they waded to the 
shore, to see Norma stretched out limp and 
motionless, while the life-guard lifted her, 
rolled her, and worked her arms with dextrous 
precision. 

Elaine tried to speak, but felt the world go 
black about her, so that she caught at Carma’s 
arm for support. It didn’t seem possible that 
anything could have happened to Norma with¬ 
out their knowing it. She heard the well- 
poised Betty ask in unsteady tones: “What 
happened? Is she all right? She isn’t—she 
won’t-” 

No one answered, for the simple reason that 
no one could say—yet. 



84j 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


“ She was sittin’ on the raft, and it tipped, 
and she went under.” Andrew Cole volun¬ 
teered the information. “Joe Campagna saw 
her, and, when she didn’t come up, he went 
after her.” 

“ Keep the crowd back! ” the guard ordered 
sharply, without stopping his steady rolling 
and lifting, to drain the water from the girl’s 
lungs. “ You’re shutting off the air.” 

Near Norma knelt Joe, solemn-eyed and 
still, apparently unconscious of the crowd 
around him, his wet clothes clinging to him, his 
hair dripping. 

“Oh, I shouldn’t have left her!” Elaine 
cried in remorse. “ I should have stayed with 
her.” 

“ She’ll be all right, Elaine,” Betty assured, 
her own unsteady voice betraying her doubt of 
what she said. “ You go and get your clothes 
on; you’re shivering.” 

“ She moved her eyelids! ” Joe exclaimed. 

“ No,” the crowd objected. “ I didn’t see 
her.” 

The men who patrolled the beach forced the 
crowd back. 



“Keep the crowd back!” the guard ordered sharply, 

Page 84. 















THE PICNIC 


85 


“ I think she’s beginning to breathe,” the 
guard remarked without missing the steady 
motions. 

This time the girl stirred so that every one 
could see her, and Elaine laughed and cried 
hysterically until Betty led her away. 

“ If Joseph hadn’t seen her,” Elaine sobbed, 
and ended on a laughing note it was terrible to 
hear. 

“ But he did, Elaine,” Betty soothed. 
“ Hurry now,” she commanded, “ so we can 
help dress Xorma. The boat will be leaving in 
three-quarters of an hour.” 

Under the necessitv for action, Elaine braced 
up and hurried into her clothes, so that when 
Norma was carried in, she was ready, with 
somewhat shaky fingers, to help dress her 
friend. 

On the boat Bettv commandeered the most 
comfortable chair for Norma, who lay back 
supinely, rather white, but able to talk. 

“ Joseph’s clothes must be wet,” she worried 
in a weak voice. ‘‘ He didn’t even have a bath¬ 
ing-suit.” 

“ The guard had Joe’s clothes dried in the 


86 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


electric drier in the bath-house/’ Carma re¬ 
plied. “ He’s all right.” 

As for Joseph, he kept away from the little 
group around Norma, though occasionally they 
saw him look at her from around the corner of 
the cabin, as if to assure himself that she really 
was there and alive. 

The ride home was a quiet one, for one of 
their number had been too perilously near 
death for the girls to forget it soon. 

I 

“ Remember I told you this morning some¬ 
thing was going to happen, Norma? ” Elaine 
inquired solemnly. 

For answer Norma, with a tired smile, re¬ 
turned a question: “Well, it didn’t, did it?” 

“I’m going to teach you girls to swim this 
summer,” Betty announced with decision. 
“ Carma and I are the only ones who have too 
much sense to drown, except on extreme 
provocation, of course.” 

“Will that be part of your gymnasium work 
this summer, Betty? ” Elaine queried teasingly. 

“You don’t think I mean that, do you? 
Well, it starts this next week, and I’m going to 
make money at it,” Betty affirmed. 


THE PICNIC 


87 


As they neared the dock, another problem 
faced Betty. “ I think you’ll have to stay on 
the boat while I go and telephone your father, 
Norma.” 

“ Mother said they probably would meet us,” 
Norma replied. “ They usually drive in the 
evening, anyway.” 

When the boat stopped, one of the officers 
came and carried the girl ashore, though she 
protested that she “ thought ” she could walk. 
A little distance from the dock the St. Clairs’ 
car was waiting, and Jimmy stood near the 
picket-fence, watching the boat unload. He 
hurried forward at sight of Norma being car¬ 
ried, an anxious, questioning look on his usually 
smiling face. 

“ I’m water-logged, Jimmy,” Norma ex¬ 
plained in a weak voice. 

‘‘ She tried to drown, but Joseph Campagna 
objected rather effectively,” Carma added. 

Without replying, Jimmy took her from the 
uniformed officer and carried her to the wait¬ 
ing car, where Norma tried rather weakly to 
assure her parents that she was quite all right. 

“ But what happened? ” her mother de- 


88 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


manded, as no one volunteered to tell her that 
she had nearly lost her daughter. 

Mr. St. Clair appeared completely absorbed 
in the problem of stowing her in a comfortable 
position in the car, while Betty related what 
had happened, as briefly as possible, trying not 
to alarm her friend’s parents unnecessarily. 

“ She was unconscious only ten minutes,” 
Betty finished, feeling, after she had spoken, 
that it was not the thing to say. 

“ Only! Well, that was ten minutes too 
long! ” Mrs. St. Clair cried tremulously. 

“ We’ll have to do something for Joseph,” 
Norma’s father remarked gruffly. 

‘‘ You be careful. Father,” Norma objected. 
“Joseph’s sensitive; he wouldn’t want you to 
give him anything.” 

“ Am I so tactless that I need to be 
warned? ” he returned with an attempt at ban¬ 
ter. 

“ So it was little Michael Angelo! ” Mrs. St. 
Clair murmured. 

In the front seat, beside Mr. St. Clair, 
Jimmy looked straight ahead and spoke not a 
word all the way home. 


CHAPTER VI 


BETTY BEGINS 

By Monday morning Norma was quite her¬ 
self, and ready to enjoy the summer of free¬ 
dom. 

At breakfast Mr. St. Clair remarked to 
Jimmy, “ I don’t know whether it would in¬ 
terest you, Jimmy, but the treasurer of the 
Gorham Steel was in the bank Saturday noon, 
and I asked him if he was looking for a talented 
young man. He said they wanted an office- 
boy. It may be beneath your dignity; I’m 
merely mentioning it.” Norma’s father smiled 
as he spoke, his keen blue eyes on the boy. 

“ It isn’t beneath my dignity, if you think I 
could learn anything there,” Jimmy responded 
seriously. 

“ I think a wide-awake office-boy can learn 

more about a business in a week than most of 

the men higher up can in a year. The office- 

boy comes in contact with everybody in the 

organization. He sees traits that men are care- 

89 


90 NORMA’S FRIENDS 

ful to hide from their associates. He sees men 
waste time, and bluff about being busy. He 
knows why they succeed and wherein they fail, 
—if he has his eyes open,’’ Norma’s father 
summed up impressively. 

“ It sounds enticing,” Jimmy agreed, as he 
finished his favorite breakfast dish of cereal and 
banana with cream. “ I guess I’ll run over to 
the Gorham Steel; I know where to go,” he 
added, anticipating Mr. St. Clair’s next ques¬ 
tion. 

At this point Norma sighed deeply. “ I 
wish I were a boy, so I could be doing some¬ 
thing.” The telephone mterruj)ted her. 

‘‘Yes. Oh, is that you, Betty? Come and 
see your gym? Of course. I’ll be over soon. 
I’ll stop for Elaine; I know she will want to 
see it.” Norma hung up, and turned to her 
mother. 

“ I made my bed, Mother, and dusted my 
room. I suppose Katy can do the rest? ” 

Her mother nodded. “ Good luck, then, 
Jimmy. So long.” 

When Elaine and Norma arrived at the 
Haleys’ the clouds of dust emanating from the 


BETTY BEGINS 


91 


garage told them what was happening, and 
who was making it happen. 

“ I’m in business, girls,—for myself,” she an- 
* nounced briskly. “ This isn’t a barn any 
longer—it’s a gymnasium. Notice the differ¬ 
ence. The youngsters will come in here, and 
it must be clean.” 

‘‘ This is no place for idlers, Norma,” Elaine 
remarked, as she reached for an old broom and 
found Norma a push-broom. 

“ Any customers—I mean pupils—^yet? ” 
Norma wanted to know. 

“ Rather,” Betty replied promptly. “ Adele 
Baxter is coming every day—and Jimmy 
McEwen. He runs away, and his mother has 
two younger; she’s nearly distracted. 

“ There, that’s better! ” she approved, as she 
dumped sweepings into a tall basket. ‘‘ Now 
to get the basketball baskets set up on the 
clothes-posts.” As she spoke she picked up a 
screw-driver, then dragged a step-ladder into 
position, and attacked the screws which held 
one of the baskets. 

“ What else are you planning for amuse¬ 
ment, Betty? ” Elaine inquired. 






9^ 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


“ I’m putting another swing on the big elm, 
and George promised to get a load of sand 
for a sand-pile near the back fence. The boys 
can pitch quoits; we have plenty of horse¬ 
shoes.” 

“ Do you think you can get enough to make 
it pay—for giving up your time, I mean? ” 
Elaine asked curiously. “You won’t have a 
minute to yourself.” 

Betty laughed easily. “ When everything 
is ready, I’m going to invite all the youngsters 
up to twelve years old. They can come for 
two days free. After that, the youngsters on 
the wrong side of the fence will be crying,” she 
predicted; “there’ll be so much fun on this 
side. I think the idea will take root, as Father 
says,” she added hopefully. “ It will appeal 
to the kiddies because there will always be 
something going on, and it will appeal to their 
parents because the youngsters will be safe and 
their play supervised.” 

As the visitors departed for lunch, Betty 
called, “ Remember, to-morrow is the big open¬ 
ing day! ” 

“ I wonder if she can make a success of it,” 


BETTY BEGINS 


93 


Elaine mused, on their way home. “ Things 
like that usually fall through.” 

‘‘ Betty is so enthusiastic that any one she 
talks to will be, too, and you know how the 
youngsters adore her,” Norma observed. 

By the time Betty’s interested friends ar¬ 
rived on Tuesday morning, the “ gym ” was 
harboring every eligible youngster in the 
neighborhood. 

“Oh, Betty, I’d never know the place!” 
Norma cried, as she entered the gymnasium 
proper, and saw the whitewashed walls and 
grey painted floor. 

Betty looked up from a long table im¬ 
provised from long boards and two saw-horses, 
and covered with white oilcloth. Around the 
table were five little girls, intent on the doll- 
dresses Betty was cutting for them. 

“ Isn’t it cheerful? The boys helped me last 
night. Mother gave me this oilcloth, and 
bought new for the kitchen-table,” she volun¬ 
teered, indicating the smooth surface of the 
“ table ” on which she was working. “ Just go 
on out to the back yard and see the fun,” she 
directed. 


94} 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


The two looked out on a noisy, babbling 
crowd of youngsters, the older boys standing 
up on the swings, the tiniest tots busy at a 
small sand-pile; the in-betweens pitching quoits 
as earnestly as if they had been throwing ropes 
to drowning friends. 

Bert McDonald and Horace Lowney were 
busy with an auger, boring a hole in a plank. 

“ Why, I didn’t know you were here, Bert! 
Aren’t you a little old?” Elaine teased. 

“ How about you and Norma? ” Bert re¬ 
torted, his Irish blue eyes flashing. 

“ We’re visiting,” Elaine returned. 

‘‘ George came over last night to borrow the 
auger, and I could not find it,” Bert explained, 
“ so I told him I’d bring it over to-day. Betty 
asked me to show her how to run it, and then 
walked off and left me. As an executive, 
Betty has a touch of genius,” Bert pronounced. 

“ When we finish this, I think she’s going to 
let us put up the trapeze,” Horace grinned 
good-naturedly. 

‘‘ Having met the energetic physical direc¬ 
tor, I am prepared to predict complete success 
for the undertaking,” Bert asserted. 


CHAPTER VII 


SUMMER PLANS 

The week after school closed, Commence¬ 
ment exercises were held in the high school. 
After attending her own promotion exercises, 
which were very simple, Norma felt curious to 
see how one went about it to graduate from 
high school. The girl was grateful for the in¬ 
vitation to Daphne’s class-exercises, as she had 
never even been in the high school she was to 
attend next year. 

On Commencement night. Daphne, in a 
simple white gown, faced the crowded audi¬ 
torium and announced the title of her essay, 
“ Our City,” for hers was one of the few chosen 
to be read. Norma, sitting beside Betty, 
squeezed her hand, and Betty smiled con¬ 
fidently; if Daphne wrote it and read it, it 
would be good, her sister knew. 

In a well-planned account. Daphne called 

attention to the city’s advantages, its natural 

water-power, its nearness to rich agricultural 

95 


96 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


country, its position in the country with respect 
to large cities, the unusual number of railroads 
passing through it, its steady growth, and the 
reasons for expecting it to continue to grow. 
She mentioned its comparative nearness to a 
state university as a reason why people should 
continue to live in Newbury. 

Betty’s eyes sparkled at the applause, for 
the people received enthusiastically an appre¬ 
ciation of their own home town, bringing out 
many good points to which they had never 
given a thought. 

By skillfully manoeuvering, Betty and 
Norma managed to edge their way through 
the crowd and meet Daphne, as she reached 
the room beside the stage. “ It was just fine. 
Daphne! ” Betty greeted. 

“ They applauded more for you than for 
any one else,” Norma added, offering her hand 
rather shyly in congratulation to this girl, who 
seemed so very grown-up, now that she had 
graduated from high school. 

Daphne smiled dreamily, and George ap¬ 
proached in time to hear Norma’s words. 

“ It was just the business men, Sister,” he 


SUMMER PLANS 


97 


teased. “ They always like to hear their own 
town lauded. Sometimes I think you’re more 
practical than artistic.” 

“ I try to be both,” Daphne retorted, un¬ 
ruffled by her brother’s left-handed compli¬ 
ment. 

“ Pardon me,” a voice said. It was Miss 
Jameson—in a green dress! 

“ Miss Haley, this is Mr. Graham, of 
Downs, Cotter, and Field. Mr. Graham wants 
to talk business with you.” Miss Jameson 
nodded pleasantly and left. 

Daphne acknowledged the introduction, and 
looked questioningly at Mr. Graham. He had 
keen black eyes, and an aquiline nose. 

“ It may be a poor time to talk business,” he 
apologized, “ but the fact is, we’re looking for 
an illustrator right away, and Miss Jameson 
recommended you, and thought you might like 
the work. It would be illustrating for our ad¬ 
vertisements, and any folders and leaflets we 
put out,” he explained. “ Would it appeal to 
you, or have you other plans? ” 

Downs, Cotter, and Field happened to be 
the biggest department-store in Newbury. 


98 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


However, Betty denied later that her mouth 
dropped open while she waited for Daphne to 
reply. It was George who accused her of the 
undignified facial expression. 

“ I have no definite plans, except to do some¬ 
thing that will give me experience,’’ Daphne 
returned eagerly. She had no idea how attrac¬ 
tive she was, with her cameo-like face lit with 
enthusiasm. 

“ Just come in Monday morning, then, if 
you’re interested,” Mr. Graham continued. ‘‘ I 
won’t keep you any longer now, because I 
know your friends want to talk to you.” 

“ Thank you, Mr. Graham,” Daphne said, 
as she took his card, and watched him depart. 

“ Just what you’ve been hinting for. That’s 
why you wrote that essay. Didn’t I predict it? 
Didn’t I? ” George demanded triumphantly. 

“ George, your tie is crooked,” Betty in¬ 
formed him witheringly. “ You’ve no idea how 
ridiculous you look.” 

Apparently Daphne did not hear. ‘‘ It’s 
just what I wanted, though I hardly knew it. 
I’ll learn so much about materials, and there 
will be so many nice things to draw.” 


SUMMER PLANS 


99 


“ And you can teach them so much in re¬ 
turn/’ George soothed, while he assured him¬ 
self that his tie really was not far out of place. 
“ They’ll be surprised how little they really 
know, when you begin to point out to them 
what art actually is.” 

“ Oh, I hope they take you. Daphne! ” Betty 
breathed, looking adoringly at her sister. 

By this time people were crowding around 
with congratulations, which Daphne tried hard 
to listen to, and to answer properly. She had 
to remember that they were not congratulating 
her for securing the best position in the world, 
as it seemed at the moment, but for graduat¬ 
ing with honor, which event seemed a long way 
back to the dazed girl. 

I’ll be grateful for what I’ve learned from 
the books Uncle Herbert gave me,” Daphne 
sighed happily. “ There’s Mother! ” she added, 
and started toward the door, to the quiet little 
woman in the black-satin dress, which An¬ 
nette had brought up to date. “ Good news. 
Mother,” she whispered excitedly, and told 
briefly what had happened. 

When Norma reached home, her parents 


> > 
> 4 

>10 


100 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


were sitting on the deep veranda, which was 
hidden from the street by vines and trees. In 
the dim light of an overhead lamp they awaited 
her. The gay orange-and-black veranda fur¬ 
niture Norma had chosen herself. Jimmy, 
stretched out lazily in the hammock-couch, sat 
up when Norma appeared. 

“ You didn’t come home alone? ” he began 
politely. “ I could have-” 

‘‘ No, George Haley brought me home,” 
Norma informed him. 

“ Did you find out how to graduate from 
high school? ” he inquired. 

“ Yes,” Norma responded to his mood; ‘‘ all 
I have to do is to wear a pretty white dress and 
think about my career, and every one will smile 
at me because I’m graduating,” she summed 
up. “ I can hardly wait,” she added enthusias¬ 
tically, “ until I really begin to do something. 
Just think! Daphne may get the very kind of 
position she wants, next Monday.” The girl 
went into detail concerning Daphne’s good for¬ 
tune. “I’m going to do something, too; I 
don’t know what, but I’m not going to sit 
around and do nothing.” 



SUMMER PLANS 


101 


“ Child, it won’t be necessary for you to 
work,” Mrs. St. Clair remonstrated. “ I’ve 
always hoped you would be content to stay at 
home after finishing college.” 

“ If she’s prepared to do something, it won’t 
matter whether it’s necessary or not,” Mr. St. 
Clair pointed out. “ She’ll be ready in either 
case. Better men than I am have lost their 
money,” he stated, with an encouraging smile 
at Norma, who laughed at her mother’s discom¬ 
fiture. “ We’ll try to fix it so you can work. 
Daughter,” he promised heartily. 

“ Daphne says all the girls in her class are 
going to be something. Merle Stratton is go¬ 
ing to start a tea-room; her Grandmother Strat¬ 
ton fainted when they told her, and when she 
‘ came to,’ she said in her days Strattons did 
not keep tea-rooms. Merle told Daphne she 
wanted to say that in her day Strattons didn’t 
faint and crochet lace for petticoats, but it 
would have sounded saucy.” 

Jimmy and Mr. St. Clair laughed heartily, 
but Mrs. St. Clair only smiled, and said, “ I 
don’t think Grandma Stratton really fainted.” 

I think she did,” Jimmy insisted. “ It 


102 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


would spoil the whole story if she didn’t,” he 
chuckled. “ Women are funny, but they have 
a lot more sense than they used to have. I’d 
rather see them play basketball and run tea¬ 
rooms than faint and crochet! ” 

“ You might teach, Norma,” Mrs. St. Clair 
suggested anxiously. 

“No, Mother. It isn’t teaching or a tea¬ 
room. I don’t know what it is I want to do, 
but I’ll recognize it when some one mentions 
it,” Norma averred seriously. 

“ I know how Norma feels,” Jimmy stated 
sagely. “ There’s something about work that 
no one would want to miss,—no live person, 
that is. It’s fun being among jDeople who are 
doing things. They seem more alive than the 
sticks who sit around, waiting for the next 
meal—that some one else has earned.” 

As Jimmy talked, Norma watched him ad¬ 
miringly. He was so clean-cut and capable- 
looking, he surely would amount to some¬ 
thing. 

“Are you learning things, Jimmy? The 
kind Father said you would, about the men in 
the company? ” 


SUMMER PLANS 


103 


“ Yes. I heard to-day that the president’s 
nephew is going on the road, selling. He’s 
been sales-manager for six months. Taylor 
says that putting him on the road is like tell¬ 
ing him to make good or get out entirely. The 
sales fell off when he ran things; on the road 
he will get nothing but a commission.” 

“ There is not nearly so much truth in this 
talk about ‘ pull ’ as people suppose,” Mr. St. 
Clair agreed. 

On Monday afternoon Norma walked 
slowly, for it was a warm day, over to see what 
progress Betty was making with the new 
gymnasium. As she approached she saw Betty * 
sitting on a low stool, reading, six youngsters 
sitting cross-legged on the grass, listening, 
while Adele Baxter had fallen asleep on her 
lap. As quietly as she could, Norma stole up, 
so that she might not interrupt, but Betty laid 
down the book and smiled a welcome. 

“You want to hear about Alaska, Norma? 

I chose reading—and a cool subject—for a hot 
day. Sit down and see if it doesn’t cool you 
off just to hear about it,” she invited. 

Laughingly Norma accepted the invitation. 



104 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


“No one but you would have thought of it, 
Betty. Go right on,” she commanded, seeing 
that the children were impatient and squirm¬ 
ing at the interruption. 

Having finished the story of Alaska, Betty 
laid Adele in a shady spot, with a small sweater 
for a pillow, set the children to rolling a ball 
while they still sat in the ring they had formed 
about her, then turned to Norma. 

“ Now, Norma, if you’ll come inside with 
me, I’ll make some lemonade for the kiddies. 
I made cookies this morning—under Mother’s 
directions.” Betty led the way. 

“You know very well I’m dying to hear 
about Daphne, Betty! Did she-? ” 

“ She did,” Betty returned succinctly. 
“ She’s up-stairs, making a dark-blue taffeta 
dress look tailored and business-like, and at the 
same time cool. Even Mother was excited 
when she heard how much they pay. Daphne 
doesn’t hear anything that’s said to her. She’s 
hardly spoken to me but,”—Betty lifted her 
head,—“ I’m not doing so badly myself.” 

Betty went to the ice-box. “ Let’s see, 
lemonade for six children and three young 





SUMMER PLANS 


105 


ladies; I suppose Daphne will come down to 
earth long enough to drink it.” 

Norma smiled. She knew that Betty was 
just as pleased as Daphne over the latter’s 
good fortune. 

“ Oh, by the way, Norma! That’s fine about 
Joseph, isn’t it? ” Betty asked casually, as she 
rolled lemons. 

“ What about him? ” Norma inquired rather 
blankly, as she cut and squeezed the lemons 
Betty handed her. 

‘‘ He’s taking lessons from Grace Kane 
every day, for the summer. She charges a lot, 
too. Didn’t you know it? ” Betty looked up 
in surprise, as she measured sugar from a dark- 
brown can, the letters of which had been ob¬ 
literated long since. 

“No. I thought he would be working,” 
Norma replied. 

“ He is,—in the fruit store,—but his uncle 
lets him off for the lessons.” 

Betty filled a large pitcher, which tinkled 
pleasantly with the ice in it, handed two stacks 
of glasses to Norma, and the girls returned to 
the yard, where they were stormed. 




106 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


That evening, at the dinner-table, Norma re¬ 
membered her news-item, while she was telling 
that Daphne had been successful in securing 
the,position as illustrator. 

Oh, Father! Joseph is taking lessons from 
Grace Kane. I wonder where he gets the 
money; she charges a lot for her time.” 
Norma’s attention was focused on early peas 
and carrots, of which she was very fond, so that 
she missed the amused look of the other three. 

“ I hope no tactless person offered it to him,” 
Jimmy commented, “ to hurt his feelings.” 

At some familiar connection between the 
idea of tact and Joseph, Norma grew sus¬ 
picious. She might have said it herself. 
“ Father, did you-? ” she began. 

‘‘Did I do anything tactless? No. I sent 
the money to Miss Kane and told her to offer 
Joe lessons ‘ because of his pronounced talent.’ 
I hope I wasn’t tactless? ” her father queried 
humbly. 

“ Oh, I’m so glad! ” Norma returned, a trifle 
indirectly. “ It’s the best thing you could have 
done. He would have to go to school one more 
year; he’s fifteen now. Then he’d drop his 



SUMMER PLANS 


107 


drawing and painting and never amount to 
anything.” 

For the next few minutes Norma divided her 
thoughts between Joseph and the new peas and 
carrots. 

“ You might tell your friends, Norma, that 
the Bankers’ Association is offering prizes for 
the best advertisement to be used by them on 
the subject of investment. It need not be en¬ 
tirely original, though the general idea should 
be, and it must not be more than one hundred 
words. It may be prose, rhyme, or song,—so 
long as it makes good advertising copy.” 

Norma did not feel any deep interest in her 
father’s announcement. It sounded too diffi¬ 
cult. “Maybe Jimmy can win a prize; he 
knows something about business,” she evaded. 

When the three others laughed, Norma won¬ 
dered why. 

“ Business isn’t learned in a week or so, 
Norma,” Jimmy admitted, still smiling. 

He looked so nice when he smiled that 
Norma forgave him for laughing at her. 

That evening, when Betty and Elaine 
walked with her to the park, and talked about 


108 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


high school and Betty’s gymnasium and 
Daphne’s career and other important matters, 
Norma told Betty about the contest. “ There 
are so many in your family, Betty, surely one 
of you should win the prize.” 

“ I’ll demand part of it for telling them, if 
one of them should,” Betty returned. 

“ I don’t know when the contest closes,” 
Norma continued. “ I may not be here.” 

“ Where do you go this summer. Norm’ ? ” 
Elaine wanted to know. “Up north again on 
the lake? ” 

“ Up north again on the lake,” Norma re¬ 
peated, “ about the first of August.” 

“ I wish you’d get over the habit—a whole 
month every year. It just spoils my vacation,” 
Elaine complained, putting her arm around 
Norma. 

But Betty offered consolation of a sort. 
“ Cheer up, Elaine! Some one must stay here 
to assist with my gymnasium. Mother has a 
lot to do, you know, with seven in the house; 
she can’t possibly manage it all. Daphne’s go¬ 
ing to pay me the difference, if I get some one 
to help watch the youngsters part of the time. 



SUMMER PLANS 


109 


I won’t give it up entirely, but I could use a 
partner—one about like you, Elaine,” Betty 
wheedled. 

Elaine stuck her hands in imaginary pockets, 
and assumed what she considered the voice of 
a business man. “ I have no objection to going 
into a small business,” she agreed. 

“ Put it there, partner,” Betty directed, 
holding out her hand. “ This is the orthodox 
way of sealing a bargain.” 

“ You’re tantalizing me,” Norma pouted. 
“ You’re spoiling not only my favorite lake, 
but all vacation-spots,” she exaggerated. 
“ Now if you’d promise to write frequently —” 
she hinted. 

They promised. 



CHAPTER VIII 


NORMA MIGRATES 

Early in August Mr. St. Clair drove his 
wife and daughter to the lake in Canada where, 
for several years, they had spent a part of each 
summer. They arrived near dusk, when the 
sun was dropping at the far end of the lake, 
and the trees were turning a cloudy blue. 

After the mysterious way of hotels that are 
full of guests, the white frame building ap¬ 
peared to be deserted, its occupants being 
everywhere but in evidence. 

Norma loved the smell of the evergreen trees 
and the cool quiet of the place. She hoped 
there were girls her own age this year, either 
staying at the hotel or in the summer cottages 
near by. But by dinner-time, when she 
watched the guests troop into the great dining- 
hall, her hopes fell. There were small boys and 
old ladies; a clergyman and his wife, who kept 
to themselves, because, Norma decided, they 

were so tired of talking to endless people; a 

110 


NORMA MIGRATES 111 

semi-invalid man and his wife. The latter had 
no children, and both talked incessantly about 
their dog from morning until night. Norma 
liked the curly brown dog until she had lis¬ 
tened, through parts of several days, to its likes 
and dislikes, age, and cute habits when it was 
younger. 

There were three young men in gay-colored 
sweaters and white flannel trousers, who played 
ukuleles and saxophones and ignored Norma 
completely. She hadn’t the courage to offer to 
*play the piano for them, when she heard them 
complaining that there seemed to be no one 
who could or would. 

There was a sprightly little woman who had 
gone to eighteen different places for relief from 
hay fever, and talked hay fever until Norma 
wished she had happened to sit at some other 
table, and hoped she wasn’t unsympathetic. 

“ Father,” Norma spoke suddenly, after the 
other guests at the table had hurried away for 
a launch-ride before dark, “ if I ever talk on 
one subject until I bore people, just yawn or 
sigh heavily or cover your ears or give me some 
other signal.” 


112 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


Her father nodded absently, his mind being 
on something else. 

“ I’m going to walk down to the Indian vil¬ 
lage,” Norma announced, and started down the 
trail to the little huts where the Indians sold 
their wares—sweet-grass baskets, lovely fur- 
trimmed moccasins, and bows and arrows. 

Near the end of the row of huts was a girl 
whose dress and bearing set her apart from the 
untidy women of her tribe. She might have 
been eighteen. Her expression marked her as 
different; there was purpose in her serene face. 
Norma smiled shyly as she stepped up to the 
“ Blue Bell ” hut, for such was the name over 
the door. She wished she weren’t so afraid of 
strangers and did not have to remind herself 
that they wouldn’t bite. The girl responded 
with a flash of white teeth, and waited, appar¬ 
ently, for Norma to speak. 

“ This is a lovely place to have your store,” 
Norma began. She knew that an Indian has a 
certain poise and sense of good manners, and 
resents the tactless, blunt questions curious 
people so often ask, but yet responds quickly to 
friendly advances. 



NORMA MIGRATES 113 

‘‘ Yes,” the girl agreed, “ I am glad we 
chose this place for our shop this summer.” 

“ Blue Bell is a pretty name for it,” Norma 
commented, looking up at the sign in blue let¬ 
ters on the rough, unpainted boards of the 
shack. 

“It is my own name,” the Indian girl ex¬ 
plained. 

“ Mine is Norma St. Clair,” Norma re¬ 
turned, seeing the belated opportunity to in¬ 
troduce herself properly. 

“ That is pretty, too,” Blue Bell declared, 
and added, after a slight pause, “ Are you a 
Canadian? ” 

“No, I live iust across the line at New¬ 
bury.” 

.As they talked, she noticed Blue Bell’s well- 
kept hands, her neat jersey dress, and her care¬ 
ful speech. Norma was sure she would find the 
girl’s history interesting, if she could draw her 
out. 

“ I live here in summer and in Montreal in 
winter, when I attend school. I am going to 
be a teacher in another year,” she stated 
simply, yet Norma could see she was proud. 


114 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


“ I shall teach my own people,” she added, 
looking off dreamily, as if visualizing her fu¬ 
ture. 

“ That is fine,” Norma answered warmly, 
appreciating the fact that, because of some in¬ 
stantly recognized bond between them, the In¬ 
dian girl was opening her heart to an unusual 
degree. The visitor had felt, when her eyes 
first rested on Blue Bell, that they would be 
friends; something drew her, and evidently the 
Indian girl had felt it, too. 

“ I don’t know what sort of work I shall do,” 
the younger girl admitted regretfully. 

“ You are young,” Blue Bell replied. 
“ When I was your age, I had not learned to 
read; then a teacher, a guest at the hotel, 
taught me, and I have studied much alone and 
have attended school. Now I want to teach 
my people all I can learn.” 

Some dirty, cheerful children of the tribe 
were wandering by, and stopped to smile at 
Blue Bell, who evidently was their friend, and 
to look curiously at Norma. 

“ See, they want me to tell them a story. I 
make them wash their hands and faces, and 


NORMA MIGRATES 


115 


fasten up their stockings and tie their shoe¬ 
laces, before I talk to them,” she informed 
Norma. “It is the way I teach them to care 
for their appearance. It is the little people I 
hope to help. I want them to be clean and 
intelligent and useful. I want to be proud of 
the people of my tribe,” she pronounced wist¬ 
fully, looking olf a little sadly, as if she felt 
keenly their indifference to self-improvement. 
“ I tell them of the wonderful things Ameri¬ 
can girls are doing; then I tell them that what 
American girls do, Indian girls can do, also.” 

“ Of course they can,” Norma agreed, en¬ 
chanted by this maiden of another race, who 
dreamed of doing things against great ob¬ 
stacles. She was afraid to move, for fear the 
spell would break, or Blue Bell might become 
reticent. But Blue Bell was gazing off over 
the lake again, seeing visions, Norma was sure. 

“ I suppose you swim,” Norma ventured. 

Blue Bell nodded. “ And play basketball 
and tennis.” 

“ If you’re going in swimming in the morn¬ 
ing,” Norma pursued, wondering just how far 
she dared go with this promising friendship. 


116 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


“ I’ll go in the water with you, but I can’t 
swim.” 

“ About ten o’clock I go in, and I will help 
you learn to swim, if you will let me,” Blue 
Bell offered in her precise accent. 

Because an Indian girl would try to teach 
her to swim, Norma’s heart danced. Blue Bell 
would not succeed, she was sure, for Norma 
was convinced she never could learn; but it 
meant that Blue Bell wanted to be her friend. 

Seeing several customers approach the shop, 
Norma slipped away, and hurried to tell her 
mother of Blue Bell, who was infinitely more 
wonderful than Hiawatha. 

“ Isn’t she clever, Mother? Only four years 
of school, and next year she will teach. I wish 
we could take her home and keep her. I want 
to know her always,—and what she is doing,” 
Norma cried excitedly. 

Her mother laughed. “ Norma, I’m sure no 
one ever lived who was more curious than you 
are about what people are, or are going to be 
or do next. You’re insatiable.” 

“ But isn’t every one? ” Norma queried, her 
level dark brows raised in astonishment. 


NORMA MIGRATES 


117 


“ Not to the extent you are, child. I never 
saw your equal.” 

As Mrs. St. Clair was lost again in her 
magazine, Norma’s thoughts followed the drift 
her mother had suggested. Blue Bell’s future 
seemed the most important thing in the world, 
as was Jimmy’s a few weeks ago, and, more 
recently, Joseph’s, and Daphne’s and Betty’s, 
—in fact, all the interesting Haleys. Well, it 
was absorbing. People were just like true 
stories; one couldn’t help wondering what 
would happen next, and what would become of 
them. Only Norma had supposed every one 
felt the same rapt interest. She dreamed on 
now, until it was dark, partly conscious that 
she watched the deepening reflection of the 
trees in the water on the far shore. 

Darkness hid the world until another day, 
which would be a new chapter. Somewhere 
near the tamarack tree in front of the hotel a 
whippoorwill repeated the only words it knew, 
and that sound and her thoughts and the smell 
of pines were linked in an impression that be¬ 
came a lasting memory. 



CHAPTER IX 

I 

MAN IS SUPERIOR TO THE ELEMENTS 

In sx)ite of delicious corn muffins and mar¬ 
malade and a tempting fluffy omelet for break¬ 
fast, Norma was impatient to be outdoors, 
partly because she wanted to visit old haunts, 
chiefly to see the new-found Blue Bell. 

“ What are you going to do this morning. 
Daughter? ” Mr. St. Clair asked. 

‘‘ Blue Bell is going to try to teach me to 
swim; she doesn’t know what she’s undertak¬ 
ing, and I didn’t tell her,” Norma confided, 
“ but she’ll soon find out.” 

“ I can let you have an extra inner tube I 
brought. I’ll pump it up after breakfast,” her 
father promised. “ It ought to be helpful in 
learning to swim; it will hold your weight.” 
He appeared to be intent on his breakfast for 
a few moments. Norma was accustomed to the 
abstraction which is peculiar to men who spend 
too much time on figures. He emerged from 

it with an interesting proposition. 

118 


“MAN IS SUPERIOR” 


119 


I’ll tell you what I’ll do, Norma. Let’s 
get these swimming-lessons over with. I’ll give 
you five dollars if you learn to swim before we 
go home; ten if you learn in three weeks; fif¬ 
teen if you learn in two weeks; and, if you can 
swim ten strokes alone at the end of this week. 
I’ll make it twenty-five dollars.” 

‘‘ O-o-o-h, I’ll get it over with and take the 
twenty-five! ” she exclaimed optimistically in 
one breath. 

“ I hope so. I would rather give you the 
twenty-five dollars than the five, and you will 
have a lot more fun out of your vacation when 
you have lost your fear of the water,” her 
father reminded. 

On the steps of the veranda Norma hesi¬ 
tated. The three young men who were fond 
of music and violent sweaters were playing 
tennis on the court near the hotel. Norma had 
met them by this time, but had forgotten to 
connect the proper name with the proper 
sweater, and so could not distinguish them. 
While they were out, it occurred to her that 
it was not a bad time to try some of the music 
she had seen on the piano. 


120 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


Having assured herself that the big, gayly- 
decorated room at the east end of the hotel, 
seldom used except on cool or rainy days, was 
unoccupied, Norma began to play a popular 
piece. She had not finished when the blond 
young man who played the ukulele hurried in. 

“ I beg your pardon,” he began breathlessly. 
“ The fellows sent me in to see if you would 
play for us when we practise. Do you mind? ” 
“ I’d like to,” Norma admitted, flattered be¬ 
yond words, and feeling very grown-up. She 
resolved to mention it casually in her next let¬ 
ter to Betty—possibly in a postscript. 

‘‘ Now? ” he pursued. “ Have you some¬ 
thing else you want to do? ” 

After glancing at the mission clock on the 
huge stone fireplace, Norma replied, “ No— 
not until ten o’clock.” She found it highly 
gratifying to be implored to play, by young 
men much older than herself. 

The red sweater disappeared, and reap¬ 
peared a moment later with two others just as 
gaudy, their owners carrying a ukulele, a violin, 
and a saxophone. In a few minutes the quiet 
old hotel was filled with gay music. 



“MAN IS SUPERIOR” 


121 


When Norma had played the last piece for 
them, Otto Hoyer thanked her heartily. “We 
appreciate that, Miss St. Clair.” 

“ Lots of times there’s nothing to do unless 
we can stir up some music,” added Harry 
Quinn, who played the saxophone. 

“ He doesn’t really mean that his saxophone 
is music; he knows better, of course, but we 
humor him,” Duane Harmon explained, look¬ 
ing up from the violin he was carefully putting 
in the case. 

“ You’ll play for us after dinner? ” Otto 
Hoyer inquired eagerly as the girl started to 
leave. 

“ If you call it playing,” Norma responded, 
with a meaning look at the saxophone player 
whose effort had been denounced. 

Hurrying to her own room, Norma changed 
her dress for a gay blue-and-yellow bathing- 
suit, adjusted a yellow cap over her dark curls, 
and slipped on her blue bathing-shoes. 

On the veranda she found her parents wait¬ 
ing, her father holding up a new tube. “ Ready 
for action, Norma? ” he inquired as he handed 
it to her. 


122 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


“Yes. Thanks, Dad; I won’t let it get 
away,” she assured him, and, spying Blue Bell 
in a black suit, diving off the spring-board, she 
hurried down the steps, but not before she 
heard her mother say in a low voice: “ Now, 
you watch her; don’t let her know it, but stay 
near.” 

She smiled. Well, they wouldn’t need to 
worry much longer—twenty-five dollars in one 
week. 

Blue Bell greeted her with a quiet smile, yet 
Norma knew she was glad to see her. An 
Indian never leaves any doubt as to his desire 
to be a friend,—or to be let alone,—however 
little he may say. 

“ I brought a tube,” Norma explained. “ It 
helps, I guess, though I never tried one,” she 
added doubtfully. 

“ Let me show you what it will do.” Blue 
Bell held out a hand for the tube, and threw 
herself on it into the water, her hands and legs 
stretched out. “ See? ” she inquired, rising. 
“ I weigh thirty pounds more than you do,” she 
stated, looking the younger girl over with an 
appraising eye, “ and it holds me.” 




“MAN IS SUPERIOR” 


123 


Convinced that the tube was reliable, Norma 
stretched herself out. “ It’s fun,” she agreed. 
‘‘ I’m not afraid this way, but I must learn to 
swim alone this week.” She related her father’s 
offer. 

“ Then we must waste no time,” Blue Bell 
declared. “ Watch my stroke; do as I do,” she 
commanded. 

After Norma had watched the older girl’s 
easy motions, she tried awkwardly, with the 
tube under her arms, to imitate Blue Bell’s 
strong, even stroke. When she found herself 
making a little progress, she was delighted. 

In an hour she had learned to move with 
Blue Bell’s counting, which had been necessary 
because she tried a quick splashing instead of a 
slow, strong stroke. For a while she rested on 
the floating dock, while Blue Bell swam and 
dove from the spring-board. 

For three days the lessons continued. On 
the third day Norma picked up the tube which 
she had thrown do^vn on the dock, and started 
toward the hotel. “ Why, this tube must 
leak! ” she exclaimed. “ There’s no air in it, 
to speak of.” 


124 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


Blue Bell looked at it, then at Norma. 
“ Have your father pump it up again,” she 
suggested very sensibly. 

“ Funny! ” her father commented as he took 
the tube. “ Must be a slow leak, or maybe the 
valve. I’ll pump it up and leave it until morn¬ 
ing; we’ll see how it looks then.” 

But in the morning the tube was as plump 
and firm as could be. Norma used it, and 
again discovered, when she was through swim¬ 
ming, that it was almost flat. 

“You must be putting your finger on the 
valve, Norma,” her father decided, looking at 
the offending tube with a puzzled frown. 

But the third time the tire went flat, Norma’s 
curiosity became suspicion. She looked at Blue 
Bell, who might have been a sphinx, so far as 
her expression told anything. 

“ I should like to know why this tube goes 
down in an hour’s swimming and yet holds air 
all night.” 

Blue Bell’s even white teeth showed as she 
smiled. “ In Montreal there was a voung man 
trying to learn to swim, but he was extremely 
nervous about water. The instructor had first 


“MAN IS SUPERIOR” 


125 


to teach him confidence, by showing him how 
little motion was required to keep one above 
the water. ‘ Remember,’ he said, ‘ that man is 
superior to the elements.’ You, Norma, have 
been swimming for three days with no air in 
the tube. Now you know you are superior to 
the element called water. Are you not glad? ” 
she inquired politely. 

While Norma tried to grasp this fact. Blue 
Bell instructed: “ Now swim with the empty 
tube on the dock instead of under you. You 
will have a better opinion of yourself.” 

Cautiously Norma threw herself forward, 
swam ten strokes, then jumped up trium¬ 
phantly. “ This is the sixth day. I win! I’ll 
go and call Father,” she announced, and, 
throwing her bathrobe about her, ran to the 
hotel. 

After demonstrating her newly acquired 
ability, Norma heard Blue Bell say to her 
father, “ I hope it has not tired you—pumping 
up the tube? ” 

‘‘ Not at all. I’m grateful to you for your 
ingenuity,” Mr. St. Clair replied heartily. 

Over the dusty road Norma padded in her 


126 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


cork-soled shoes. An auto passed and raised 
blinding clouds of dust in its wake, for there 
had been no rain for seven weeks. 

That night, as the girl stood in Blue Bell’s 
hut, watching the big red moon rise between 
the lane of trees at the top of the hill, another 
brighter light caught their eyes. Across the 
lake, the Hotel Ravencrest was in flames. 

“ In a few moments there will be no hotel 
left,” Blue Bell predicted solemnly. 

As she spoke, the owner of a launch called 
to the men on the veranda to come, started his 
motor, and, as soon as the men had piled in, 
swung around and across the lake. 

“ Isn’t there a fire-boat or something? ” 
Norma queried. 

Blue Bell shook her head. “ They talk of it, 
but a fire-boat costs money and can’t be every¬ 
where at once. It can only work near the 
shore, and often could not get to a fire in time. 
Then, too, it is only needed two or three months 
of the year.” 

“ But something should be done,” Norma in¬ 
sisted, “ with all these terrible forest-fires 
around.” 


“MAN IS SUPERIOR” 


127 


“ Yes, it is very simple,” Blue Bell replied, 
and Norma thought for a moment she was jok¬ 
ing. ‘‘ People—every one—should be ex¬ 
tremely careful with fire,—^matches, lamps, 
cigarettes. Carelessness with fire,—that is the 
tragedy of the North.” 




CHAPTER X 


THE HALEYS AT HOME 

“ I’m going to stay with Jimmy Rogers to¬ 
night, Mother,” George Haley announced at 
dinner one night. “ He’s alone, you know. 
We’re going to the movies, and he asked me to 
sleep there.” 

“ I’ve never been in their home, and we’ve 
known them so many years,” Daphne re¬ 
marked, picking daintily with her fork at a 
salad. 

“ It’s nice inside,” Betty volunteered. 
“ Everything is in order. It’s restful-looking. 
You’d approve, Daph. In the dining-room is 
a big old walnut sideboard, low and heavy. It 
has pewter pieces on it that Norma says be¬ 
longed to her great-grandmother. The table is 
old, too, drop-leaf and square. Mrs. St. Clair 
won’t have the old things refinished, so I sup¬ 
pose it isn’t the thing to do. There are nearly 
always flowers on the table, and you can look 

out of four windows over the lawn.” 

128 


THE HALEYS “ AT HOME ” 


129 


At this Daphne frowned at the disreputable 
yard which could be seen from their windows. 

“ JVIost of their furniture is old, and every¬ 
thing looks elegant,” Betty concluded. 

“ That’s the way people get things,—buy 
only good furniture and keep it for genera¬ 
tions. Mrs. Carpenter has had three daven¬ 
ports since we lived here, imitation leather, 
cheap tapestry, and cotton velour,—all the 
horrors that came along.” 

Fearing that Daphne might be “ stirring 
things up,” Mrs. Haley hastened to say, “ In 
a few years we can buy a place, and you may 
do the interior decorating, Daphne.” 

“ Why a few years, Mother? We’re all 
working, even Betty,” Daphne pointed out. 

“ We never can find a place with four or five 
bedrooms,” Mrs. Haley objected. “ Then 
there’s the money.” 

“ Yes—there’s the money,” Mr. Haley 
echoed sadly. “ I have just about nine hun¬ 
dred dollars in the bank. They always want 
more than that on a fair-sized house. McKen¬ 
zie wants fifteen hundred down on this place.” 

‘‘And no one will buy it because we’ve 


130 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


banged it up for fifteen years. The last woman 
who looked through it called us sh-sh-sh-shift- 
less/’ Daphne ended on a high note, and there 
were tears in her eyes. 

“ You heard her say ‘ shiftless,’ ” Annette 
corrected, “ but she didn’t say we were. She 
meant some one else—probably.” 

“ Probably not/'' Daphne returned, wiping 
her eyes. “ Why should she mean some one in 
Alaska when she was going through our 
house? ” 

Annette was silenced. 

“ I’ve always hoped we could have a place of 
our own,” Mr. Haley began apologetically. 

“ Oh, I know you and Mother couldn’t help 
it. Father,” Daphne assured him quickly, for 
the familiar hopeless look came to her father’s 
face. “ Five of us in school most of the time, 
—but now it’s different. We’re all working, 

and if we have any gumption-” She 

looked off as a new train of thought started. 
“ Most families would be farther ahead if 
they’d cooperate. Why, we could buy this 
house, if we’d pull together.” 

“ This ramshackle-” George protested. 





THE HALEYS “AT HOME” 


131 


“ What’s SO ramshackle about it? ” Daphne 
demanded. “ It’s substantial—and a bargain 
because it’s so battered-looking no one wants 
it. It’s in a good central location, where 
property is bound to go up, and the places all 
around cost considerably more. What this 
house needs is paint and paper and enamel. It 
doesn’t need to be rebuilt. We could make up 
the fifteen hundred necessary to buy it.” 

“ George and I are saving for college,” 
Ernest remarked feebly. 

‘‘ We can double our money if we improve 
this place and sell it at a profit. You aren’t 
giving the money—you’re investing it. If 
you’ll compare the price of this place with that 
of any house around, you’ll see what can be 
made, if we bring this up to the neighborhood 
standard.” 

Betty, sitting on her father’s left, as she had 
done ever since she was tiny and he had fixed 
her potatoes and cut her meat, was all eyes. 
‘‘ I’ll put in the twenty-five dollars I’ve saved,” 
she offered heroically. 

Every one laughed, as they were inclined to 
do at Betty because she was the youngest, 




132 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


and they always had laughed at her or with 
her. 

“ You fix up your room with yours, Betty,” 
Daphne instructed, quite as if the matter were 
settled, “ and Annette and I will do the rest of 
the repair work.” She looked questioningly at 
Annette, fearful of remonstrance. 

“ All right,” Annette agreed quickly, for she 
was secretly pleased with the idea of the 
Haleys owning their home and improving it. 

“ And Ernest and George can help Father 
make the ‘ down payment,’ ” Daphne con¬ 
tinued relentlessly. 

“ Suits me,” Ernest agreed briefly, and a 
trifle importantly at being called upon to help 
bear the financial burden of the family. 

“ I don’t see where all the money for repairs 
and payments will come from, but I hope I can 
have cupboards in the kitchen,” Mrs. Haley 
added, more cheerful than she had been when 
the talk started. 

Granted ere asked,’ Mother,” George 
quoted. “ Cupboards are simple—four or five 
boards nailed up to two pieces of siding, and 
you order four doors to fit. Then Betty will 



THE HALEYS ‘‘ AT HOME ” 133 

paint the whole a beautiful scarlet if you like it 
so. I know Betty is industrious, because 
Daphne says so,—and what Daphne says in 
this house goes^ George intoned this in his 
best oratorical manner, exactly as if he were re¬ 
citing a part, and even Daphne laughed. 
There was a sympathetic quality in George’s 
voice that made anything he said doubly ef¬ 
fective, which partly accounted for his success 
in debates—and as an insurance salesman. 

“You boys could help with the payments, 
too? ” Mr. Haley asked, and there was some¬ 
thing pathetic in his appeal, his dependence on 
his sons, his own lack of confidence in himself. 
“ If a man of my age loses his job-” 

“ Sure, we could do that,” Ernest agreed 
easily. “ I never have anything to show for 
my salary. I don’t know where it goes. This 
way I’d have to save.” 

It occurred to Daphne that expensive 
theater-tickets and ball-games and four-dollar 
ties and athletic equipment would account for 
a good deal, but she knew better than to “ stir 
things up ” in such a crisis. Things were set¬ 
tled to her liking. Let them stay settled. 




134 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


George looked up at the cheap pink-china 
clock on the shelf. Daphne had wanted it 
thrown out, but her mother had protested that 
they all wanted to know the time, and it would 
mean buying a new one. 

“ Jimmy will be waiting for me,’’ George 
stated, rising from his chair. “I’ll be going. 
Oh, Mother, suppose I ask him to come to din¬ 
ner to-morrow night? ” 

“ Of course,” Mrs. Haley replied. Com¬ 
pany for dinner was one of the things Mrs. 
Haley never objected to; she was thoroughly 
hospitable, and never stopped to offer such ex¬ 
cuses as best table-cloths that weren’t laun¬ 
dered, or “ only lamb-stew to-morrow night.” 

Jimmy gladly accepted the invitation, and 
the next night, when he was seated at Mrs. 
Haley’s right, looked about at the numerous 
company. “ I don’t believe I ever sat at the 
table with more than four or five people, until 
to-night,” he commented. “ It’s a new ex¬ 
perience.” 

“ Come every evening while you’re alone,” 
Mrs. Haley urged. “We shall be glad to have 
you.” 


THE HALEYS « AT HOME ” 135 

“ Oh, but you have enough to do,” Jimmy 
protested, though the idea appealed to him. he 
admitted to himself. It was lonesome in the 
big empty St. Clair house. 

‘‘ I don’t mind one more,” Mrs. Haley said 
seriously. 

‘‘ We’ll put you to work,” George threat¬ 
ened, ‘‘ to pay for it. We’re thinking of buy¬ 
ing the house, and if we do, every one within 
gunshot will be doing something.” 

“ Oh, you’re going to buy it? ” Jimmy in¬ 
quired interestedly. 

‘‘ I called up McKenzie to-day, and I think 
we can agree on terms.” Mr. Haley tried to 
speak casually, but did not quite succeed. He 
was just a little bit important over buying a 
place; the pride of ownership is inherent in 
nearly every one, and Mr. Haley was not one 
of the few exceptions. 

“ We’re going to improve it a good deal,” 
Daphne contributed in a matter-of-fact way. 
“We want things right, of course.” 

“ It’s a good location,” Jimmy opined. 
“ You shouldn’t have any trouble in selling it 
any time, if you wanted to. And that barn 


136 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


would hold three or four cars, if you wanted to 
rent space.” 

Why, so it would! ” Ernest responded. 

“ I’ll put up a sign just as soon as we get 
the deed,” Mr. Haley decided. 

“ But there’s a garage down at the corner, 
and space for a hundred cars in it,” Mrs. Haley 
reminded. 

“ At ten dollars a month,” George pointed 
out. “ The Haleys think that’s too much to 
charge, and they’ll find plenty of renters to 
agree with them,” he predicted. 

“ I think we ought to have a few loads of 
earth put on the yard, and seed it now. That 
will give it a start for spring.” Ernest laid 
down his fourth ear of corn. ‘‘ And we ought 
to put in more shrubs now. There isn’t any¬ 
thing but weeds on the place. I’ll order the 
earth and shrubs to-morrow.” 

“ Stick to evergreens,” Jimmy advised. 
“ My aunt always bought things that looked 
nice the year round; a florist told her that. It 
makes a wonderful difference in a place to see 
those small spruces green in the winter, when 
other shrubs are just stalks.” 


THE HALEYS “ AT HOME ” 


137 


** That’s a good idea,” Mr. Haley approved. 

“ Oh—oh—oh! ” Betty squealed, and every 
one looked to see the cause of her horror. “ If 
you rent the garage, what will become of my 
gymnasium? ” 

She looked blankly from one amused Haley 
to another. 

“ Y^our season’s nearly over,” Annette of¬ 
fered soothingly. 

“ And if the house is in good shape by 
spring, we’ll sell it, anyway,” Mr. Haley 
added. “ And school starts soon, remem¬ 
ber.” 

Betty looked downcast, however. 

“ I was trving to sell some insurance to a 
real-estate man to-day, and he got talking 
about land-values and owning your own home. 
He says national prosperity is reflected in the 
value of homes, and if people don’t own any 
property, they don’t get their share of the 
natural increase there always has been.” 
George’s handsome face was serious as he 
spoke. 

“ I suppose that is true, but when a man is 
more than twenty years getting nine hundred 




138 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


dollars,” Mr. Haley reminded, “ there’s some 
excuse for not getting your share.” 

Betty changed the subject by announcing, 
“I’m going to write to Norma as soon as the 
dishes are finished.” 

“ Oh, Ernest, that reminds me, there’s a let¬ 
ter for you on the shelf there,” Mrs. Haley 
stated. 

“ I’m going to whitewash the cellar. Any 
one want to help? ” Ernest invited, as he 
reached for the letter. “ Dad bought some 
whitewash once, but we never got around to us¬ 
ing it. I’ll need the cellar now for my gym— 
and Betty’s,” he added, with an apologetic look 
at his youngest sister. 

“ I’ll help with the interior decorating,” 
Jimmy offered, but Ernest did not hear. He 
was looking at a long green slip of paper. 

“ Aha! Little Ernest wins the first prize! ” 
he waved the check aloft. 

“ How much? What prize? What was 
your slogan? ” several of the Haleys wanted to 
know. 

“Fifty dollars for that bankers’ slogan!” 
Ernest held up the check for inspection. “ My 


THE HALEYS ‘‘AT HOME’’ 139 

contribution was—let’s see if I can remember 
it.” He scratched his head. 

I joined the band of easy marks. 

I fed my gold ‘ fish ’ to the sharks. 

I was a sucker for their bait. 

Now I repent when it’s too late. 

My lesson in four words I state; 

Invest, but first investigate! ” 

There were congratulations, clapping, and 
more questions. 

“ But, Ernest, you didn’t ever invest and 
lose, did you? ” his mother demanded. 

Ernest looked a trifle sheepish. “ I bought 
two hundred dollars’ worth of oil-stock.” He 
grinned at the check. “ I just got back one- 
fourth of it for reporting my experience,” he 
finished. 

I told you about that contest, Ernest 
Haley,” Betty stated meaningly, almost accus- 
ingly. 

“ Well—so you did. I’ll give you a commis¬ 
sion of ten dollars,” Ernest agreed readily, and 
Betty danced with joy for a moment, then 
tackled the dishes. 




140 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


“ We’ll have to clean that cellar before it’s 
whitewashed,” George suggested, and Jimmy 
and Ernest followed him as he started toward 
the dingy kitchen for a broom. 

In the kitchen Jimmy saw a small table 
heaped with soiled dishes and pans; a dark 
sink, with small drain-boards; a pantry incon¬ 
veniently located at one end of the large room, 
next the door leading out to the back; two 
windows, which were insufficient to light up the 
room, with its walls painted a dull brown. His 
efficient mind saw it arranged as it should be. 

“ We’ll have to make this kitchen a little 
more convenient for your mother, George,” he 
ventured. “ I’m handy around a house.” 

“ Yes. It doesn’t look like the models in 
pictures, does it? I’ve promised to put in cup¬ 
boards,” George informed his friend, “ but I 
don’t know when I’ll get around to it.” 

“ Get the materials and I’ll help you. I’ve 
been promoted from office-boy to billing-ma¬ 
chine operator, and I sit down all day. At 
night I’m glad to be on my feet and move 
around,” Jimmy explained. 

By this time they were in the cellar, trying 


THE HALEYS “AT HOME” 141 

to accustom themselves to the dim light. 
“ Here is another old broom, George,” Ernest 
offered. 

“ I’ll pile up the wood and kindling you have 
here,” Jimmy volunteered, and set to work 
without hesitation. He stopped, after a mo¬ 
ment, and held up a board. “ Here’s a nice 
length for a shelf over the sink, if you have 
brackets and screws,” he remarked. 

“ There’s a box of junk here,—screws and 
bolts and old taps, parts of clocks, almost any¬ 
thing you can mention,” George informed him, 
indicating a soap-box sitting on the floor. 

“ But no brackets,” Jimmy announced, after 
turning the contents over carefully. 

“ I’ll get some at the hardware store to¬ 
morrow,” George promised easily,—a trifle too 
easily, Jimmy thought. 

He was wondering how long this sudden 
spurt of energy, on the part of the Haleys, 
would last. He knew something of their care¬ 
lessness and easy acceptance of things as they 
were. Habit is strong, and he knew that the 
family probably would relapse into its old way 
of letting things go. 


142J 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


“ Isn’t Lammert’s hardware store open to¬ 
night? ” he inquired. ‘‘ It’s only around the 
corner. I could run over,” he offered. 

“ Oh, no! I’ll go,” George objected, seeing 
that the matter was not to be dropped. “ I’ll 
get screws, too,” and he started off. 

‘‘ Get an extra brush, so I can whitewash,” 
Jimmy counseled. ‘‘ We can finish it to-night.” 

When George returned with the materials, 
he stopped Betty’s dish-washing long enough 
to put up the shelf over the sink. “ There, 
Mother, that will hold a glass and a clock and 
your scouring-powder and face-powder,—and 
a lot more things.” He smiled at her, and re¬ 
turned to the cellar. 

As Jimmy worked with a broom in the cel¬ 
lar, he thought of his Aunt Selina’s words. 
“ People who live ‘ in rent ’ are apt to get 
slack,” she would say. “ Anybody can buy 
some kind of a little place.” Aunt Selina al¬ 
ways had been positive of speech and tender of 
heart. Maybe it did make people careless, not 
having a place to work on, Jimmy reflected. 
No one wants to put work on another person’s 
house. 



CHAPTER XI 


BLUE BELL 

As the weeks passed, Norma learned more 
of Blue BelFs ambitions, for the two had be¬ 
come fast friends. On the Saturday morning 
before Norma’s last week of vacation, the girls 
were talking in Blue Bell’s hut. The hotel 
guests had scattered, and there were no cus¬ 
tomers; Norma was careful not to take up her 
friend’s time when there were prospective pur¬ 
chasers about. 

“ I have many hopes and many problems, 
Norma. I want my people educated. See 
that little Henry? ” She pointed to a serious, 
bright-faced youngster of nine, who somehow 
stood out from the rest, Norma thought. ‘‘ His 
parents had brains; they went to college, and 
planned to do much for our people. But the 
father died in the Great War, the mother two 
years ago, and now Henry lives with Grey 

Feather, who has no imagination.” 

143 


144} 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


Norma tried to hide a smile, yet was caught 
with the idea. “No imagination!’’ When 
Blue Bell said it, it seemed important. Ap¬ 
parently one must have imagination, if one 
would succeed, according to Blue Bell’s philos¬ 
ophy. Norma had heard something similar, or 
read it, perhaps. The image is first, the vision, 
then the act, the achievement. 

“ At school,” Blue Bell continued, “ I have 
a very fine teacher. She knows my plans, and 
talks to me. She says people must ‘ see ’ first, 
in their minds, what they would do; they must 
plan; they must imagine.” 

The girl stopped abruptly, as she had a habit 
of doing in the midst of these confidential talks. 
She had talked a great deal for her. But some¬ 
thing seemed to be troubling her, and she be¬ 
gan again. 

“ This winter I must find something to do. 
Early in September we close our little shops. 
Most of the Iroquois go to Montreal for the 
winter; some of the men stay there on farms all 
summer. My father is there now, but he is 
too old to work much.” 

As she talked. Blue Bell looked so troubled 


BLUE BELL 145 

that Norma somehow read between the lines 
and caught her meaning. She lacked means, 
and could not finish her schooling unless she 
could work part time; it was on her mind. 

It piqued Norma that she could think of 
nothing to suggest. There must be something 
Blue Bell could do. She felt sure the Indian 
girl would not have confided so much to every 
one. 

At lunch-time Norma carried her friend’s 
problem back to the hotel, where she found a 
letter waiting her. 

“ From Betty. Oh!” She tore it open and 
read: 

“ Dear Norm: 

“ Why did you go away when there are 
so many things happening? 

“ I was glad to hear from you, and so in¬ 
terested in your letter that I read it to all my 
gym kids. They think they’ve been there, you 
described the people and place so well. 

“ My gym is a great success, and Elaine is 
helping me. But I must give it up soon, for 
we have bought this house, and Father is going 
to rent the garage —my gym! However, school 
starts soon, and there will not be much time for 
anything else. 



146 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


“ Can’t you imagine Daphne bossing every¬ 
body? It does me good to watch her. 

“ To-day I enameled my room and furniture 
a nice ivory. You won’t know it when you see 
it. I’m buying drapes and curtains, too, and 
all out of the money I’ve earned. To-night 
the carefully-nurtured Betty sleeps on the 
floor. 

“ George and Jimmy are putting cupboards 
in the kitchen, and we intend painting the walls 
and woodwork white. Jimmy comes every 
night for dinner. He fits in so nicely, I can’t 
help wishing he had been a Haley. 

“ Ernest and Father are fixing the yard and 
the porch, and we’re having two extra windows 
put in the kitchen,—Jimmy’s idea. 

“ I made Ernest give me ten dollars for tell¬ 
ing him about the prize contest you mentioned. 
He won the first prize—^fifty dollars. 

“ Your Blue Bell interests me strangely, pos¬ 
sibly because you make her sound so romantic. 
I’d be a wee bit jealous of the way you love 
her, if I had time, but you can see for your¬ 
self all the things I have on my mind,—and 
you don’t know all, dearie. 

“ High school opens in two weeks. Glad or 
sorrv, jNTorm? 

“We had a card from Uncle Herbert and 
Aunt Minnie in New England. They may 
stop here on their way back. Believe thou me, 
they’ll never know their poor relations! 



BLUE BELL 


147 


“ Last, but not least, I’ve got a secret. Oh, 
Norm! I can hardly keep it, it’s so good. No. 
You needn’t look for a postscript. It’s a sur~ 
prise! Love from 

‘‘ Betty.” 

‘‘ Betty has a surprise. She won’t tell me,” 
Norma informed her parents as she sat down 
to lunch. 

When her father and mother exchanged 
knowing glances, Norma wondered why. It 
must concern Jimmy, she decided. 

‘‘ Maybe I can find out what it is, Norma. 
I’m going back for a few days,” her father 
announced, but Norma was not impressed. 

She told the news of the letter, and, when 
they had discussed it, Norma returned to Blue 
Bell and her troubles. 

Mother, you’re smart,” Norma cajoled. 
“ Can’t you think of anything? ” 

“ M-m—I might,” her mother conceded 
cautiously. 

They were sitting on the veranda, waiting 
for the gong to sound for lunch. There was 
silence for a few moments, during which 
Norma was sure her mother was trying to think 


148 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


of something, though she looked unconcerned. 
Of course, Norma reasoned, a person could 
look indifferent and still be thinking hard; it 
was only in stories that people had to scowl 
before their thinking did them any good. 

Admiring her mother as she did, Norma 
could not help comparing her with other 
women she knew. Mrs. St. Clair was placid; 
she did not wiggle and shuffle, the way so many 
women did. The girl recalled an article she 
had read once on repose of manner; the writer 
had objected to faces and hands and feet that 
worked in annoying ways. ‘‘ Do something or 
keep quiet,” she had admonished, “ but don’t 
offend people by tapping your feet or biting 
your lips or fussing with your hair. It may 
cost you your job, or your social position, or 
your sweetheart, or whatever it is you want 
most.” And Norma decided that her mother 
had repose of manner. She sat now, with her 
hands folded in her lap, her feet on the floor, 
her head, with its heavy dark hair streaked 
with silver, resting against the high back of her 
chair. Her sallow face was thoughtful. 

Mrs. St. Clair’s words brought the girl out 


BLUE BELL 


149 


of her reverie. “ Your Blue Bell could sell 
twice as much right here, if she carried the kind 
of stock summer people want.” 

“ What kind? ” Norma demanded eagerly. 

“ \Yell, there’s no place to get stationery or 
post-cards or birthday-cards, or gifts for 
youngsters, except the bows and arrows. There 
are no books to read, no circulating library, 
and every one has time to read up here.” 

While the gong sounded, Norma considered 
this; it did seem to offer a big opportunity to 
Blue Bell. They went in to lunch, the girl 
considering her mother’s words. “ That will 
be fine for another year. Mother, but for this 
season it’s too late to talk about it. I’ll tell 
Blue Bell, of course.” 

Later Norma, leaning on the narrow, rough 
board counter, told Blue Bell of her mother’s 
suggestions. The Indian girl nodded and 
looked off for a long moment, absent-mindedly 
folding the Toronto paper she had been read¬ 
ing. 

‘‘You say it is too late. If the gift-shop 
business is good for a summer hotel, why would 
it not appeal to the city hotel in winter? At 


150 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


the teachers’ training-school, hours are short. 
If I had space in some good hotel, I could at¬ 
tend to it, and study between sales.” 

“ Yes,” Norma cried excitedly. “ There is 
a gift-shop in our biggest hotel. And, oh. Blue 
Bell, you would be in time for the Christmas 
trade! ” 

Blue Bell was very nearly excited herself, 
for her black eyes were shining. “ My stock 
here will do, and I can add to it. I believe it 
can be done 1 ” 

“ Oh, Miss St. Clair! ” 

Norma turned, to see Otto Hoyer, two 
tennis-rackets in his hands. 

“We want one more for tennis. You play? ” 
he inquired in a hopeful tone. 

“ Yes. I’ll come,” she agreed, and turned to 
Blue Bell, who was handing a gorgeous purple- 
and-white waste-basket to a prospective buyer. 
“ See you later, Blue Bell,” and she was off. 

On Saturday, three days later, Mr. St. Clair 
returned from his short business trip with an 
astonishing load in his car. First, Norma saw 
only Betty, grinning triumphantly from ear to 
ear, and showing her even teeth. 


BLUE BELL 


151 


“ Was it a surprise, Norm? ” she wanted to 
know. 

“Why, Betty Baines Haley! How dared 
you keep it from nre? ” Norma demanded, as 
she kissed her friend. Over Betty’s shoulder 
she saw Jimmy, as he straightened up from the 
floor of the car, where he had crouched. 

“Oh, Jimmy! We’ll have a wonderful 
time,” Norma exclaimed delightedly. “ I’m so 
glad you came, Jim. I can swim, and there are 
so many things to show you! ” 

“ And we meet the wonderful Blue Bell, I 
suppose? ” Betty queried. 

“ If you’re especially good, and are sure you 
appreciate the privilege,” Norma promised. 

“I’ve wanted to lock horns with her ever 
since I heard of her,” Betty admitted in¬ 
elegantly, borrowing one of Ernest’s choice 
idioms. 

Jimmy chuckled appreciatively. “ Don’t let 
them meet unless I’m around,” he implored 
Norma. “ Something tells me they are well 
matched.” 

“ Come on, Betty and Jimmy. Get your 
bathing-suits on, and let’s go in. There’s time 


152 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


before dinner,” and Norma led the way, still 
wondering how it all had been arranged, yet 
almost too happy to care. 

But Betty left nothing to the imagination. 
She took Norma’s arm and began at the be¬ 
ginning. “ Your mother wrote that your 
father was coming for a day or two, and would 
bring me back if I could arrange to come. She 
said it wouldn’t cost much, as I could share 
your room. I told you about the money Ernest 
gave me, and I hadn’t spent all of my summer 
money, so the family said I had earned a vaca¬ 
tion,—and here I am. Your father insisted on 
Jimmy’s having a week before he started back 
to school.” 

“ Oh, I’m so glad/' Norma cried, squeezing 
Betty’s hand hard. “ Blue Bell is good com¬ 
pany ; she knows absolutely everything there is 
to be known, Betty—earthquakes, birds, mathe¬ 
matics. Ask her anything! ” Norma exag¬ 
gerated. She reads to try to find out every¬ 
thing there is to be known. We just read for 
fun.” 

Betty looked duly impressed, in spite of the 
allowance that must be made for Norma’s en- 




BLUE BELL 


153 


thusiasm; she exaggerated, herself, on what 
she considered suitable occasions. 

In ten minutes Betty had unpacked, un¬ 
dressed, and jumped into a bathing-suit. The 
girls ran down the three flights of stairs and 
were met by Jimmy, who said he had been 
waiting seven minutes, and that he had un¬ 
packed his grip, besides. 

“ I thought it would be much cooler up here, 
Norma,” Betty remarked, as they dropped 
their bath-robes on the dock and started for 
the water. 

“ It would be, but there hasn’t been any rain 
in two months. Oh, Betty! There’s hardly a 
night that we don’t see a fire somewhere. Two 
hotels have burned down, and there are forest- 
fires galore.” 

But fires were forgotten in the swimming 
and splashing that followed. Spying Blue 
Bell through the trees, Norma had waved 
frantically for her to come. Rather slowly, for 
there was a certain shyness about her when 
with these strange people of another race. Blue 
Bell had come, leaving her shop in the care of 
an adoring friend. Norma introduced Jimmy 


154 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


and Betty to her, and did not miss the apprais¬ 
ing glance that the latter sent with her greet¬ 
ing, which was so cordial that Blue Bell smiled 
happily. 

“I’ll race you over to the other pier. Blue 
Bell,” she challenged instantly, in her friendly 
wav. 

Blue Bell’s eyes lighted up as she plunged 
into the water and waited for Jimmy to count 
three. They were off, Norma and Jimmy smil¬ 
ing as they watched the pair. It was a good 
two hundred feet to the pier where the big 
boats docked, and, for more than half the dis¬ 
tance, the girls were abreast, but as they neared 
the pier, the watchers saw Blue Bell creep 
ahead, until she finally touched the landing 
with two lengths to spare. Yet Betty re¬ 
turned with shining eyes, as pleased as if she 
had won, and with a new respect for Blue Bell, 
as she had for any one who could outdo her, 
true sport that she was. Even Jimmy looked 
admiringly at the strange girl. 

“ I’ll have to tune up,” Betty admitted as 
she reached the small floating dock used by 
bathers. “ We’ll try this again to-morrow.” 


BLUE BELL 


155 


During the next half hour Norma was glad 
she could swim, even a little. It was fun, espe¬ 
cially with people she knew and liked, as she 
did these three friends. Neither Betty nor 
Blue Bell allowed Jimmy to perform any trick 
without imitating him instantly. The sun was 
warm, and the four care-free young people en¬ 
joyed every minute of the sport. 

When Blue Bell left, to look after her shop, 
the three musicians joined the party. “ We’ll 
call on you after dinner,” Norma promised the 
Indian girl as she started to leave. 

“ That reminds me—I’m nearly starved,” 
Betty observed. 

“ You’ll be glad you are, when you see the 
meals they serve here,” Norma assured her. 

Later Betty found ample proof of her 
chum’s statement. 

“ I recognize some of the people you de¬ 
scribed, Norma,” Betty declared, looking 
around the big dining-hall. 

“ So far we aren’t sorry we came, are we, 
Betty? ” Jimmy queried, smilingly, as he fin¬ 
ished a huge piece of berry pie. 

“ I will be if you eat all night, Jim,” Norma 



156 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


interposed. “ Come on, you haven’t seen the 
North country at all! ” 

Reluctantly Jimmy left the table, and the 
three strolled down through the village, as it 
was called, the newcomers taking their time 
and looking at the odd wares offered. 

“ Blue Bell! ” Norma called, for the Indian 
girl was not in sight. 

At Norma’s call she appeared from the rear 
of the hut where she slept and ate. 

“ Can you come for a walk up on the rocks? 
We want to walk around before the sun goes 
down, and you can tell about things better than 
I can,” Norma coaxed. 

“ First, I must ask my friend Eva to take 
care of my shop,” the older girl returned, and 
a moment later joined them. 

“ Take us up the short cut you know. Blue 
Bell. It’s queer it can’t be seen from here,” 
she explained to the other two, “ and there is 
only one other way to get up,—that long path 
you see down the road.” 

They looked up at the sheer cliff which rose 
straight up behind the hotel and Indian huts. 
In another moment Blue Bdl was leading the 


BLUE BELL 


157 


way, dodging behind trees and bushes, up the 
steep, rocky path. Suddenly they came on 
the great table of granite which stretched away 
to wilderness, and which was broken only 
by small shrubs and an occasional stunted 
tree. 

“ This goes right on to the end of nowhere,” 
Norma informed them impressively. ‘‘You 
could get lost in ten minutes. There’s just 
rock and rock and rock, right up to the brass 
rail that surrounds the North Pole.” 

“ Why aren’t there any small stones? ” Betty 
demanded, in the tone of one who felt cheated. 
“ Everything looks as clean as if it had been 
swept.” 

As Norma did not know the answer. Blue 
Bell replied for her. “ This granite is the 
hardest kind of rock, and does not break easily. 
It has been thrown up from the bottom of the 
earth, and is the oldest formation. There is 
gold in it,—help yourself,” she added mis¬ 
chievously. 

“ See the juniper berries and kinnikinnick,” 
Norma pointed out. “ Little else grows.” She 
picked a spray of the low spiny juniper, loaded 


158 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


with blue berries, and some of the gay red 
berries of the kinnikinnick. 

“ It’s like another world, up here,” Betty 
exclaimed delightedly. “ One minute you’re 
down near a hotel and autos and people, and 
the lake, and the next, you’re up in the wilder¬ 


ness! 




'‘There, look at the sun!” Norma cried. 
“ It’s red-looking; the sunsets are always pret¬ 
tier up here. Just see the reflection in the 
lake below us! ” 

As they talked, they walked over the smooth 
hard granite, and over dead trees which had 
struggled for existence on the scant supply of 
earth in crevices. 

“ I notice the trees just grow about so big 
and then die,” Jimmy remarked, looking at 
twisted, stunted oaks and pines. 

" They are like people,” Blue Bell ventured, 
with a far-off look in her eyes. " If they limit 
themselves to just a little poor soil, they are 
dwarfed, mentally or physically. We must 
take in before we try to give off.” She looked 
about apologetically, as if she had been caught 
thinking aloud, and explained: " The teacher 


BLUE BELL 


159 


who has helped me so much told me something 
like that. The trees reminded me of it.” 

“ If it’s true of a tree, I guess it is of a 
human being,” Jimmy opined sagely. 

As the sun dropped slowly down into a patch 
of evergreen, they sat down to watch it, with¬ 
out speaking, for the place had cast a spell over 
them. Then dusk came, and Blue Bell arose. 
“ We had better go before it is quite dark,” she 
suggested. 

They started after her, and as she reached 
the edge of the cliff, she paused. “ What’s 
that? ” she demanded sharply of no one in par¬ 
ticular. “ A fire started? ” 

In the woods beyond the huts was a tiny 
patch of flame. Whether there was any one 
near it, they could not see yet. 

‘‘ Hurry,” Blue Bell commanded, and set 
an example which they found it difficult to fol¬ 
low. 

They scrambled down the narrow rocky 
path, and when they caught up with Blue Bell, 
she was beating with a stick. “ Norma, get 
brooms and call the people.” The others 
caught up sticks and began. 


160 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


Pulling off her own shabby sweater, Blue 
Bell wrapped it on her stick, the better to beat 
out the rapidly-spreading flames. One must 
see a match dropped on dry grass to know how 
quickly the fire spreads to a terrifying circle. 
The three worked at the outer edges. Blue Bell 
giving the orders. 

‘‘Never mind that side! It’s toward the 
rocks, and the fire will die at the cliff. Scrape 
away the dead leaves 1 ” 

In three minutes Norma’s message produced 
results. Not a soul in that vicinity but knew 
the dread meaning of a forest fire in a region 
where there had been no rain in two months. 
The hotel people came with sticks picked up on 
their way, and the Indians appeared with 
brooms. The fire was thirty feet in diameter 
when the crowd reached it and began to work. 

Norma saw Mr. Chorman run out from his 
big summer home on the west of the huts, and 
motion to Jimmy to follow him. He said a 
few words of explanation, and they ran, re¬ 
turning in a few moments with two hand- 
extinguishers which Norma later learned were 
from his launch and his house. The chemicals 



Pulling off her own shabby sweater. Blue Bell wrapped 
IT AROUND HER STICK .—Page 160, 









BLUE BELL 


161 


sprayed on the edge of the crackling flames 
slowed down their progress, and encouraged 
the fire-fighters in what had looked, a moment 
before, like a hopeless effort. 

When the fire was finally under control, 
it had spread to within a dozen feet of the 
hotel. 

“What started this?” Mr. Chorman de¬ 
manded, when there was time to talk. 

And Norma, who knew him best, answered, 
“ Blue Bell saw it first from the top of the 
cliff.” 

Mr. Chorman turned questioningly to the 
Indian girl, who was wiping her forehead with 
a blackened handkerchief, and leaving unbe¬ 
coming streaks. 

“ I saw two men walk down the road. 1 
think one of them must have dropped a match,” 
she explained, frowning until her usually 
placid brow was wrinkled. 

“ Then Blue Bell started bossing us all 
around, and the fire is out,” Betty summed up 
briefly, and not without a flicker of amusement 
in her eves. 

Blue Bell smiled acknowledgment, and 


162 NORMA’S FRIENDS 

walked toward her hut. To her the incident 
was closed. 

“ So Blue Bell saved my place,” Mr. Chor- 
man stated musingly. “ I wonder if she’d be 
offended if I tried to reward her? ” 

Norma’s heart pounded. She was embar¬ 
rassed, but knew she must speak; it was oppor¬ 
tunity, and might never offer itself again. 
Things were taking shape in Norma’s mind. 
Mr. Chorman, for one thing, owned a big de- 
partment store in Montreal. His beautiful 
home had been saved, and he was grateful. 

“ Mr. Chorman,” Norma began shyly, “ she 
really needs help. She’s trying to attend 
school and support herself at the same time. 
She wants to start a little gift-shop in Mon¬ 
treal.” It sounded horribly crude to Norma, 
after she had said it. 

“ I see,” Mr. Chorman nodded. “ And all I 
have to do is to stock it up and let her run it. 
I think something can be managed,” he con¬ 
cluded, and walked off, after thanking them all. 

“You bold thing! ” Betty accused, when he 
had left. 

“ Oh, Betty, was I? ” Norma cried aghast, 


BLUE BELL 163 

her eyes pleading with Betty to change her 
opinion. 

Betty threw a comforting arm around her 
friend. “No, of course not. Only I didn’t 
think you had the nerve; I knew it was hard 
work for you, and I believe Mr. Chorman knew 
it, too.” 

Jimmy walked off ahead of the girls, his 
hands in his pockets. 

“ Look, Norm, he’s strutting because Mr. 
Chorman chose him to get the fire-extinguisher 
and operate it,” Betty whispered. 

“ Oh, I don’t think so,” Norma objected, 
sorry for Jimmy that he should be accused of 
such a thing. 

“ I know it,” Betty returned. “ I’ve got two 
brothers, and it doesn’t take anything to make 
them strut. They’re all alike,” she pronounced 
sagely. 


CHAPTER XII 

IN HIGH AT LAST 

On her way back to the city, Norma’s 
thoughts were divided between the care-free 
days just past, and the high-school days to 
come. She had visions of Betty on the basket¬ 
ball team, of Jimmy winning honors, and of 
herself in the many high-school affairs of which 
she had heard so much from other girls. 

Already Jimmy and Betty were talking of 
what they intended to take up this year, and, 
although Norma could not join in, she was con¬ 
soled by the thought that soon she would be a 
part of it all. 

On her first day in high school Norma was 
duly impressed by the size of the building, as 
compared with that of the grade school, by the 
seven hundred faces, nearly all of which were 
strange, and by the great dignified assembly- 
room where the principal presided. To Norma 
he looked like a business man who had strayed 

in and could not find his way out; he looked 

164 


IN HIGH AT LAST 


165 


unhappy, as if he belonged somewhere else, and 
knew it. 

Away on the right sat the seniors; and it 
seemed to the new girl that it would be ages 
before she could sit there and be looked up to 
by envious freslimen and sophomores, and less 
envious juniors, who had almost arrived. 

When the notices being read did not concern 
her, Norma glanced about her, and observed 
that the seniors did not fill their section. At 
the extreme left there were two sections just of 
freshmen, then most of a section occupied by 
sophomores. Back of the sophomore and 
senior divisions sat the juniors, who were di¬ 
vided into those who had completed part of 
their third year of work, and those who were 
just entering their third year. 

According to that, Norma reasoned, about 
half the students in the first and second years 
dropped out. Norma wondered why—^whether 
they had to work, or did not like high school. 

From her seat in the sophomore section, 
Betty looked around once and smiled at Elaine 
and Norma, who sat next to each other. A 
black-haired snub-nosed boy left his seat in the 


166 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


freshman section and asked a question of one 
of the teachers standing near an exit. It was 
the officious Howard Miller, who always in¬ 
sisted on special privileges and special instruc¬ 
tions, and attracted as much attention to him¬ 
self as possible. 

Beside Howard Miller was Victor Harcourt, 
who also had been in Norma’s classes. He was 
big and dressy and really bright, but talked 
nonsense incessantly; Miss Rice had told him 
once that he had everything but good judg¬ 
ment. In front of Norma was an overgrown 
boy, wearing clothes a trifle too small; Norma 
learned later that his name was Howard M. 
Hayes, and that he had recently moved to 
the outskirts of Newbury. His father was 
paralyzed, and Howard ran a small farm and 
attended school as well. 

A senior girl played a march, and the as- 
semblv filed out to classes. At the end of the 
morning Norma possessed an algebra, a copy 
of “ Ivanhoe,” an English rhetoric, and a Latin 
grammar, and felt less bewildered. She de¬ 
cided she would like it, all but the algebra, 
which did not seem so human. There were no 


IN HIGH AT LAST 


167 


people in mathematics, and Norma was partial 
to people. At noon school was dismissed in 
order that teachers might go over registrations 
and arrange classes. 

But by the next noon, when the entire stu¬ 
dent body had gathered in the gymnasium for 
lunch, school-life proper began, or so it seemed 
to Norma. Howard M. Hayes was sur¬ 
rounded by a crowd of boys, with Howard Mil¬ 
ler and Victor Harcourt as leaders. “ Now if 
you put sugar on your hands, it will coax your 
sleeves down, Hayes,’' Victor remarked help¬ 
fully. 

“ But, my dear Harcourt,” Howard Miller 
remonstrated in affected tones, ‘‘ they aren’t 
being worn that way in the country! ” 

Of the students in the gymnasium, a few 
were smiling, but the rest, judging from their 
frowns, were filled with silent indignation. 
Then the principal strolled casually from the 
corner reserved for the teachers at lunch-time, 
and stopped at the group, which dispersed in- 
stantlv. 

Howard Haves’ face was white and set, and 
his big hands below the short sleeves were 


168 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


clenched. Norma turned indignantly to Betty. 
“ Do things like that often happen? Don’t 
people like Victor Harcourt and Howard Mil¬ 
ler ever put themselves in the place of an un¬ 
fortunate person like Howard Hayes? ” she 
asked. 

“ It won’t happen again,” Betty assured 
her. “ Mr. Yates meant business when he went 
over there, and probably would have said some¬ 
thing if it hadn’t been for embarrassing How¬ 
ard Hayes.” 

In another five minutes the assembly-bell 
had rung, and the student-body moved slowly 
up the stairs to classes. Norma and Elaine 
entered their English class, to see Howard Mil¬ 
ler and Howard Hayes already there, the 
former still tormenting. 

‘‘ Howard M. Hicks your name is, I be¬ 
lieve? ” he was saying, in what he considered 
a very superior tone. 

Miss Hendricks, the English teacher, looked 
at the two from shrewd, kindly eyes. She wore 
her hair in a funny iron-grey roll off her fore¬ 
head, and was partial to grey or brown cloth 
dresses. She had lived near Newbury all her 


IN HIGH AT LAST 


169 


life, and was the friend of every one who ever 
had known her. 

“ Why do you two disagree? ” she began 
mildly, so mildly that no one suspected that 
she was about to throw a bomb. 

There was no answer from the boys, and the 
rest of the class looked expectant. 

“ Aren’t you cousins? ” she pursued. 

“ Hardly,” Howard Miller returned curth^ 

“ Possibly not,” Miss Hendricks admitted in 
her easy way, “ but I noticed on Mr. Hayes’ 
record that his full name is Howard Miller 
Hayes, and he comes from Frontenac, Ne¬ 
braska. That is where Mr. Miller’s cousin, 
Marian Miller, went to teach, and I know she 
married a man named Hayes. I just won¬ 
dered if you weren’t related.” 

The class was breathless. The two Howards 
glanced at one another, and then looked away 
quickly. Howard Miller’s face was a study. 
He realized that he had made a laughing-stock 
of one of the unfortunate members of the 
proud old Miller family, and that he never 
should hear the end of it. His face was nearly 
as white as his cousin’s. 


170 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


Excitedly Norma leaned over to Elaine and 
whispered: “ I know more than that. I’ll tell 
you later.” 

For the first time since she could remember, 
Norma found it difficult to keep her mind on 
an English lesson. She had a bomb to throw, 
and it would cause as much excitement as Miss 
Hendricks’ had. HoAvard Miller Avas not pay¬ 
ing attention, either, for what Norma knew, he 
knew, and it did not make matters any more 
pleasant. 

When the class was dismissed, Elaine could 
hardly Avait to reach the hall, AA^here talking Avas 
permitted between classes, to inquire, “ What 
else do you knoAV, Norma? ” 

‘‘ Oh, only that Howard Miller Hayes is en¬ 
titled to a full half of the Miller property their 
great-grandfather left —and interest/' Norma 
laughed. “ I can’t quite piece it all out, but 
evidently Miss Hendricks was the only one 
who kneAv of Marian Miller’s marriage. 
Father talked quite a lot about it all, Avhen 
their great-grandfather died, and I knoAv they 
couldn’t find any trace of Marian Miller or 
her heirs, and I think that farm Howard 



IN HIGH AT LAST 


171 


Hayes and his father are living on now be¬ 
longed to Marian—from her mother’s side. 
They’ve probably been rather desperate, and 
thought they would try to work it. It isn’t 
good land—all run out.” 

“ Oh, Norm, I hope you’ve got it straight. 
I hope they are cousins. Howard Miller 
thought so; you could see that from his crest¬ 
fallen look.” Elaine danced happily into her 
next class. 

The story spread with the rapidity that 
might have been expected, after the happening 
in the gymnasium. Howard Hayes became 
Howard Miller, third, because the real Howard 
Miller had once introduced himself as Howard 
Miller, third. The students who had laughed 
at Howard Miller Hayes, laughed louder at 
Howard Miller, who had ridiculed his own 
cousin, for the students accepted the explana¬ 
tion without question. 

It would never be forgotten. For years after, 
pupils who criticized others would be told the 
classic story, and admonished to ‘‘ be careful, 
he may be your cousin.” 

Norma proved to be right about the legal de- 



172 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


tails connected with the division of property. 
The great-grandfather of the two Howards 
had died at the age of ninety-four, without a 
will. Marian Miller had taught school in vari¬ 
ous cities in the West, and had corresponded 
less frequently as the years passed. Miss Hen¬ 
dricks, who had once taught in the same school 
with her, knew her married name, but appar¬ 
ently did not know that she was heiress to half 
the very considerable IMiller property. Mr. 
Miller always had been the favorite. 

“ It’s a wonder S.A.K.A. didn’t know it,” 
Betty remarked on the third day of school, as 
the girls walked home. 

“ What’s that? ” Norma and Elaine asked in 
one breath. 

“ Sees All—Knows All. That’s what we 
call Miss Hendricks,—and she does,” Betty 
finished succinctly; “but this one important 
little item escaped her.” 

“ It isn’t often the smart alecks get taken 
down the way Howard Miller did,” Norma 
commented. 

“ Oh, I don’t know,” Betty objected. 
“ There was Dorothy Long. I never saw her. 


IN HIGH AT LAST 


173 


but they still quote her,—I do myself. She 
was in line one day, going up to assembly, and 
some one crowded her. She turned around and 
said, ‘ Do you realize that I am the mayor’s 
daughter! ’ If she lives to be a hundred, she 
won’t live it down. We still say it on the 
slightest provocation, and they say the girls 
took pains to let Dorothy hear it. No,” Betty 
concluded, “ you can’t fool any one very long. 
Too many people object to seeing any one put 
on airs.” 

They had reached Betty’s house. ‘‘ Oh, 
come on up and see my room, girls,” she in¬ 
vited. 

“ Notice how we hang back? ” Elaine in¬ 
quired, as they followed her promptly up the 
shabby, unpainted steps. 

“ We’re going to paint the steps and ve¬ 
randa, but the boys haven’t got around to it 
yet,” Betty apologized. 

At the door of Betty’s room they stopped, 
astonished. The odd pieces, which never had 
combined very well, had been turned into an 
ivory set with clever flower-designs in black 
and rose, with touches of blue, stencilled on 


174 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


each piece. There were a blue bedspread and 
new curtains and draperies. 

‘‘ Oh, Betty, it’s darling! ” Norma admired. 

I love it.” 

Betty looked gratified. ‘‘ Daphne painted 
the designs on the bed and dresser and chair- 
back, and I did the enamelling and the wood¬ 
work. Annette furnished the bedspread; and 
the curtains and drapes I bought. Aren’t we 
stylish? ” she inquired happily. “ The rag- 
carpet doesn’t look so bad, with everything 
else fresh, does it? We sent it to the laundry.” 

Downstairs there was little sign of improve¬ 
ment. The cupboards were in, but unpainted; 
the dull-brown walls remained dull-brown, and 
the scuffy linoleum looked discouraged and 
abused. 

When Norma reached home, Jimmy was on 
the veranda, wrestling with trigonometry. 

“You beat me home, Jimmy. I stopped at 
Betty’s to see her room; it’s all fixed up 
prett3^” She sat down beside Jimmy on the 
big gay veranda-seat. 

Jimmy looked interested, and waited for her 
to go on. 


IN HIGH AT LAST 


175 


Somehow I thought they’d have more done. 

It does seem, with seven of them-” she 

stopped. 

Not for worlds would she have criticized 
Betty’s family before her parents, or any one 
else; they might misunderstand. But with 
Jimmy it was different. Boys seldom “ sit in 
judgment,” she had noticed. 

“ I knew the improving sprint wouldn’t 
last,” Jimmy opined sagely. “ Aunt Selina 
used to say that laziness could not be overcome 
in a day or a month or a year. It’s habit, and 
when you really want to do things, the habit of 
not doing them is so strong, it won’t let you. 
Was the kitchen painted? ” he inquired. 

Norma shook her head. “ I don’t see how 
Mrs. Haley can work in the dingy place. No 
wonder she’s pessimistic. Too much brown 
would make the world look dark to any one. 
What is it called—the color of sacrifice? ” 

But Jimmy was too busy with his own 
thoughts to answer directly. 

“ They need some one to urge them on. 
They’ll make a real profit on that house if they 
half try,” Jimmy predicted. “ But I’m afraid 




176 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


nothing but an earthquake will stir them up, 
if they’ve lost interest already.” 

At exactly 2: 07 p. m. on the following Sat¬ 
urday the earthquake was recorded on the 
Haleys’ private seismograph. Betty and 
Elaine had joined Norma in a “ mending-bee,” 
as they called it, for Norma had found mend¬ 
ing a really pleasant occupation when accom¬ 
panied by plenty of conversation. Further¬ 
more, with all three taking sewing in high 
school, as they would be in a week, the mend¬ 
ing-bees might be justified in assuming a more 
dignified name. Betty, who had had a year of 
sewing in high school, talked of making herself 
a dress, and Norma and Elaine were urging 
her to begin. 

At this point the telephone rang, and Jimmy, 
who had been cutting the grass, answered it. 
“ Annette is calling Betty,” he announced, 
coming out from the hall. 

“ Hope it isn’t something more to do,” Betty 
remarked fervently, as she dropped her work 
and skipped inside, to return a moment later, 
her good-natured, freckled face shining with 
excitement. 


IN HIGH AT LAST 


177 


“ Guess! ” she commanded. 

“ Sold the house! ” Norma offered wildly. 

“ Got a new gymnasium! ” Jimmy guessed. 
He had waited out of sheer curiosity. 

“ Elaine, your turn,” Betty directed. 

“ There isn’t much left,” Elaine complained. 
“ Dax3hne promoted? ” 

“ All wrong! Uncle Herbert and Aunt 
Minnie are coming—probably next Saturday; 
they’re motoring back from New England. 
Now Daphne will make us step around,” she 
opined, not without a little satisfaction in her 
tone, for Betty loved Daphne, and she loved to 
see things moving. 

Norma and Jimmy exchanged glances that 
seemed to say, ‘‘ The earthquake—^maybe it 
will stir things up.” 

Betty’s needle raced for a few minutes. 

“ Is he really a senator—^your uncle, I 
mean? ” Elaine queried. 

“Not only a senator, but a millionaire and 
a Haley—distinguished, any way you look at 
him! ” Betty laughed. “ And Daph doesn’t 
want him to be ashamed of us. There’ll be a 
council of war when Daphne gets home to- 





178 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


night, or”—there was a mischievous glint 
in her green-grey eyes,—“ shall I go down to 
the store and tell her? ” 

In Norma’s brown eyes there was a reflec¬ 
tion of the fun in Betty’s. “ Do you think you 
ought to go ’way down there alone, when 
Elaine and I are just dying to see the effect on 
Daphne? ” 

“ Come on,” Betty cried, and the three 
bundled their sewing into a convenient maga¬ 
zine-rack and started off. 

As they passed Jimmy, Norma remarked 
coolly, “ Jim, you’ve cut that grass near the 
veranda three times. Do you know it? ” 

“You were gossiping so hard you couldn’t 
possibly have counted,” Jimmy retorted, with 
an attempt at a hostile expression. 

On the third floor of Downs, Cotter, and 
Field’s, Daphne was sketching a frock to be 
used as an illustration in the next day’s adver¬ 
tisement. She smiled sweetly as the three girls 
approached. 

“ She has no idea what’s going to happen to 
her,” Betty murmured gently. 

When her sister had imparted the news. 


IN HIGH AT LAST 


179 


Daphne made no immediate response, but her 
eyes became fixed and purposeful. She was 
planning a campaign. 

Norma stood, waiting for the oracle to speak, 
and thinking what a blessed privilege it was to 
know the Haleys. 

‘‘ Isn’t she pretty? ” Elaine whispered. 

“ Just beautiful! ” Norma replied. 

Betty heard and smiled, and looked approv¬ 
ingly at Daphne in her soft, dark-blue cloth 
dress, with its hand-made creamy white collar 
and cuffs. If Daphne had only one dress, it 
would be dainty and in good order, and appro¬ 
priate for almost anywhere. Daphne’s brown 
hair was always shining, and her pliant, 
friendly-looking hands well kept. She emerged 
from her trance now. 

“ Get white enamel,—two quarts of it for 
the kitchen woodwork,—and two extra brushes; 
and get a quart of light grey, and we’ll paint 
that linoleum. I’ll pay you for it, Betty. Get 
some veranda-paint, and make George use it, 
Betty. Make him. Pester him. He likes 
peace, you know.” 

Betty giggled. “ I’ll make him unhappy. 


180 NORMA’S FRIENDS 

Trust me, dear Daphne, if that’s the way to 
handle him.” 

“ I’ll bring home some yellow gingham; I 
saw some clever little curtains for a kitchen. 
And, Betty, you might hint to Father to mend 
the fence, if he isn’t too tired. Tell him you’ll 
paint it. You will, won’t you, Betty? ” 

“ Love it,” Betty admitted. 

I’ll help,” Norma offered. 

‘‘ So will I,” Elaine chimed in. “ Every¬ 
body loves to paint a fence. Isn’t it funny! ” 

When Norma reached home near dinner¬ 
time, Jimmy was waiting for her. “ Did the 
Haleys hold their council of war? ” he asked. 

“ Daphne held it for them,” Norma replied 
succinctly. 

“ They’re an interesting lot,” Jimmy mused; 
“ bright, every one of them, and all somewhat 
lazy but the redoubtable Betty and Daphne. 
Some day we’re going to brag about knowing 
Daphne. What orders did Daphne give? ” 

‘‘ Jimmy Rogers, you’re more curious about 
the Haleys than I am, and that’s bad enough,” 
Norma accused. 

As Jimmy was too honest to deny this, 


IN HIGH AT LAST 


181 


Norma continued: “ They’re to do the kitchen 
and the veranda and that great long fence be¬ 
fore Monday night. After that-” she 

stopped. 

“ Daphne will have thought up plenty more, 
—enough to keep an army of Haleys going,” 
Jimmy contributed correctly. 

The following Saturday morning Jimmy 
and Norma were too restless to talk; they both 
longed to be at the scene of action. 

“If we were a few years younger, we could 
go and hang around and see Uncle Herbert 
and Aunt Min arrive,” Jimmy sighed pro¬ 
foundly. 

“ With all his monev, Uncle Herbert could 
do a lot for them if he wanted to,” Norma burst 
out indignantly. 

“ But suppose they didn’t have an Uncle 
Herbert? ” Jimmy objected reasonably. 
“ They’re not sickly, and they’re better 
equipped mentally than the average person. 
They shouldn’t need any help. I think Uncle 
Herbert has his reasons,” Jimmy observed 
darkly. 

“ You talk like Father,” Norma accused. 




182 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


“ Your father is like Aunt Selina,—and 
neither one of them has any use for an idler. 
Aunt Selina used to quote Marcus Aurelius or 
somebody: ‘ A man must stand erect—not be 
kept erect by others.’ I judge from what you 
told me that Uncle Herbert is trying to help 
them to help themselves. If they make good, 
I predict that he will do a lot for them. It’s 
going to be fun watching.” 

“ H’m! I never thought of that,” Norma 
admitted slowly. “ He and Aunt Min will be 
surprised to see the house. Betty took me in 
last night, and the new kitchen cupboards are 
all shining white, and the floor is painted. 
Daphne painted the chairs and table yellow, 
and made yellow curtains. I believe Mrs. 
Haley is more cheerful already because of the 
kitchen! ” 

“ They were about ready to stop improve¬ 
ments when they got word that Uncle Her¬ 
bert and Aunt Min were coming,” Jimmy com¬ 
mented. “ I wonder what their next sprint 
will be, if any.” 

On Monday, when Norma next saw Betty, 
she could hardly wait to hear the news, but the 


IN HIGH AT LAST 


183 


latter did not keep her long in suspense. They 
were on their way to school. 

“ Got lots to tell you. Norm,” Betty said, 
when the younger girl stopped to call for her. 
“ The folks came, and they were too surprised 
to speak at first. Aunt Min was crazy over the 
kitchen; she says women ought to have nice 
kitchens to work in. She whispered to Daphne 
at lunch-time, and I found out afterwards that 
she asked her what Mother would like most for 
the house. Daphne is truthful, so she said 
dishes, and didn’t Aunt Min go back to the 
store with her and pick out a gorgeous set of 
dishes for Mother, and they came right out 
that afternoon—the dishes, I mean. WeVe 
used them, and they work fine,” Betty finished 
all in one breath. 

Norma laughed at the idea of dishes that 
might not work, and Betty looked gratified 
that her joke was well received. 

That’s just the beginning. Aunt Min had 
dress-goods for each of us—pink for an even¬ 
ing gown for Daphne—she almost cried over 
it, because it’s her first evening gown—and 
dark-blue velvet for Annette. Annette is go- 





184 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


ing to the charity ball. She’ll look stunning, 
Daphne says, and when Daphne uses slang, 
you know she means it. And there’s a golden- 
brown silk crepe for me—for my very best. 
And we’ve got to make them ourselves, Aunt 
Min says! ” 

Norma thought of Jimmy’s words, “ Help 
them to help themselves,” and it did look like 
it. 

“ Now we come to the house,” Betty re¬ 
sumed, a world of satisfaction in her voice that 
she had so many things to tell. “ We told 
them we’d bought it, and Uncle Herbert said 
‘ Good! Fine! ’ And when Daphne said we 
were going to fix it up and sell it at a profit. 
Uncle Herbert said he would double whatever 
profit we make. And George told him it was 
too bad he’d spoken, because now Daphne will 
see that we make twice as much profit. And 
Daphne blushed; she was terribly embarrassed. 
Uncle Herbert just laughed, and said that 
suited him; it would all be in the Haley family, 
anyway. Ernest said he didn’t believe Daphne 
had any intention of letting us sell it; she just 
wanted it fixed up to suit herself, and was hold- 


IN HIGH AT LAST 


185 


ing out the talk of profit, like a carrot before 
a balky horse! ” 

Everything seemed to corroborate what 
Jimmy had said, Norma noticed. Evidently 
Uncle Herbert knew it would be fatal to do 
too much helxDing. 

“ Jimmy said we’d all brag some day about 
knowing Daphne. He says she will make 
good,” Norma repeated. 

“ I brag nowf^ Betty laughed, pleased with 
the compliment. “ She’s my favorite relative 1 


CHAPTER XIII 


J 


Annette’s venture 

Betty, Norma, and Elaine had been doing 
their mending together on Saturday after¬ 
noons ; then the dresses Aunt JVIin had brought 
had to be made, so Norma and Betty were in¬ 
vited to take their work to the Haleys. An¬ 
nette, who was a genius at such things, was to 
cut out Betty’s dress and her own. Carma 
Hartland had tried to coax Betty to go out, 
but, finding her adamant, had ended by taking 
her sewing over to join the group of workers. 

“ I should think you would be afraid to cut 
into that nice goods, Annette,” Norma wor¬ 
ried, as she saw Annette, scissors in hand, 
ready to tackle the golden silk spread out on 
the dining-room table. Annette shook her fair 
bobbed head and laughed. 

“ It’s simple. Find the right and wrong 

sides, if any, the up and down of the goods, if 

there’s a pattern or a nap, and then remember 

right and left, if it’s sleeves, or if there are two 

186 


ANNETTE’S VENTURE 


187 


sides, like a Russian dress. If there’s no right 
and wrong, or up and down, you can cut the 
smaller parts out of all sorts of queer corners, 
and save goods,” she explained. 

As she talked, Annette cut close to the edge 
of her pattern and handed Betty the pieces. 
“ Baste a line down the middle of the waist 
where I put the pins; always know where the 
middle of the front and back are. Then baste 
those shoulder and underarm seams together.” 

Turning to her own blue velvet, Annette 
held it up for them to see. “ Now this has a 
nap, and all the pieces must run the same way. 
It looks darker one way, so I must cut all the 
pieces in the same direction.” 

“ I wish I could make a dress,” Norma an¬ 
nounced. “ It looks so easy with some one to 
boss.” 

“ Bring some goods next Saturday, and I’ll 
help you,” Annette offered. ‘‘ I love to cut the 
goods and fit people, but I don’t like the detail 
work,” she admitted. “ If you don’t want to 
experiment on new goods, bring an old dress 
of your mother’s to make over for yourself. 
That will be good practice.” 


188 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


Confidently she laid out her own goods and 
cut carefully, then turned to Betty, who was 
holding up her basted garment. “ Now, Betty, 
slip it on, and I’ll fit it before you stitch it up.” 

As Betty obeyed, she directed, “ Make me 
look slim, please.” 

“ All right,” Annette agreed, though I 
don’t see that you need to worry about looking 
slim.” 

“ Can you really do that? ” Carma inquired 
eagerly, looking up from a lampshade she was 
making for her own room. 

Carma was plump, and had soft curls in her 
neck, and Betty had told her frankly she was 
more kissable than athletic. 

‘‘ If you wouldn’t eat so many chocolates, 
you wouldn’t be interested in looking slim,” 
Annette reproved, her mouth full of pins. 
“ You’d he slim.” 

“ If you’re as clever as Betty says, I can eat 
chocolates and still look slim,” Carma coun¬ 
tered lazily. “ If it’s a gift with you to make 
people look slim, you should cultivate it,” she 
added reasonably. 

“ I love to look people over and figure out 


ANNETTE’S VENTURE 


189 


what they should wear to look best,—what 
styles and materials,” Annette confessed. 

“ Why don’t you start a dressmaking-school, 
Annette? ” Norma suggested. “ I’ve heard of 
them.” 

“ Well, I’ll practise on you youngsters first,” 

f 

Annette replied easily, as if to dismiss the mat¬ 
ter. 

Norma was more than a trifle disappointed 
in the answer. It had seemed such a wonderful 
idea. “You could just cut and fit, if that’s 
what you like to do, and charge about a dollar 
for it,—maybe more.” 

Annette laid down her scissors, crossed her 
arms on her chest, and looked out the win¬ 
dow. 

“ Napoleon’s considering the strategic ad¬ 
vantages of such a move,” Betty giggled, and 
the others joined in, for Annette unconsciously 
had struck a Napoleonic pose. 

“ I could cut out four a day, anyway, if I 
could find that many people willing to trust 
me with their goods,” Annette mused, and 
thoughtfully resumed her work. 

“ You’ll have to call yourself a ‘ modiste,’ 


190 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


Ann/’ Betty counseled, admiring a neat bast¬ 
ing line in her sleeve. “ Daphne would like it 
better. In fact, she might not allow it at all, 
otherwise,” she added in a falsetto voice, which 
caused even the staid Annette to laugh aloud. 

At four o’clock Betty made cocoa, and 
proudly produced a cake. 

‘‘ I made this myself, girls—learned how in 
domestic science! Have some, Carma? ” 

‘‘ Domestic science should be encouraged,” 
Carma approved. “ Of course. I’ll have a 
piece, Betty.” 

“ It always makes me hungry to sew,—I 
suppose because I make hard work of it,” 
Norma declared as she took the piece Betty 
held out. 

When every one was served, Elaine re¬ 
marked, “ If you put the cake away now, 
Betty, you’ll have enough for the Haleys’ din¬ 
ner to-night. Otherwise-” 

“ I’m not going to eat two pieces,” Carma 
stated virtuously. ‘‘ I promised Mother I’d 
get some things for her. I should be gone by 
now, but I’m anxious to see what happens to 
that blue-velvet creation.” 




ANNETTE’S VENTURE 


191 


Fifteen minutes later Carma had started, 
but returned almost immediately. “ Girls, 
you’d never forgive me if I let you miss any¬ 
thing. There seems to be a fire down around 
the corner,—one of the cottages on Sherman 
Street, I think.” 

Work was dropped, and the five girls hur¬ 
ried to where the crowd was watching intently. 
One side of the roof had fallen in. 

“ Why, it’s Joseph’s house, isn’t it, Ann? ” 
Betty asked. “ And all that family made 
homeless! ” 

“ Are there many of them? ” Norma asked 
in surprise. 

‘‘ Joseph has five brothers and sisters,” 
Elaine informed her. 

There were expressions of sympathy from 
the crowd. 

“ It seems to me we could do something be¬ 
sides stand here and say ‘ Too bad! ’ ” Norma 
whispered to Betty, who looked thoughtful. 

“ If every one would give something-” 

Betty began. “ People always have something 
around that they’re just saving. Furniture 
and clothes for eight people mean something! ” 




192 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


“ I can bring a kitchen chair and a pair of 
pillows,” Carma announced. “ My grand¬ 
mother had a weakness for pillows.” 

“ Mother has oodles of things we used in our 
summer cottage,—^mattresses and beds that 
we brought back when we sold the cottage,” 
Norma added. 

“ Probably we could leave things at their 
uncle’s fruit store,” Carma suggested. 

“ I can give a lot of towels that aren’t good 
enough for my husband to use in the shop,” 
a barber’s wife volunteered. “ They’re not 
wore much, but he’s fussy, and it’s good busi¬ 
ness,” she explained ambiguously. 

The girls tried not to smile at the oddly- 
worded offer. “ Ask any one else you know, 
who will give something,” Norma encouraged, 
knowing that the barber’s wife would have a 
set of acquaintances of her own. 

The crowd caught the spirit, overheard 
others offering contributions, and word went 
around that donations would be received at the 
fruit store'. 

The cottage was soon a charred frame, and 
Joseph’s mother wrung her hands as she 


ANNETTE’S VENTURE 


193 


watched it. “ I have nutting lef’. Everything 
burn,” she wailed. 

Then an Italian woman, who had been in¬ 
terested in the activity of the crowd, began to 
explain excitedly in Italian what had been 
done, and Mrs. Campagna lifted her head 
slowly and smiled at the good news. 

After a wordy conference with the owner of 
an empty cottage in the row, Mr. Campagna 
went to report his transaction to his wife. 

“ When we get insurance on dese house, we 
buy dat,” he informed her, pointing to an 
empty cottage. “ Now we rent, till we getta 
insurance.” 

“ Then we can send the things right over 
there,” the barber’s wife remarked, and again 
the word passed through the crowd, which was 
growing enthusiastic over the plan. 

“ I’ll bring mine right away; if I get back 
before the crowd is gone, others may follow my 
example before they forget,” Carma decided,. 
“ If people bring all they said they would, the 
Campagnas can sleep in their new house to¬ 
night.” 

Without waiting to discuss the matter, the 


194 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


other four girls hurried to their several homes, 
to find whatever could be carried. 

At the St. Clair home Jimmy was studying 
when Norma entered and told him briefly what 
had happened. 

“ I’ll bring that table down from the attic, 
so your father can drive over when he comes,” 
Jimmy offered; “ and I’ll carry over some 
chairs.” 

“ I know Mother will be glad to get rid of 
the things, for I’ve often heard her say so,” 
Norma told him. “ I’ll be getting the patched 
sheets and bedspreads the laundry tried to 
wreck,” she continued, starting up-stairs to the 
linen-closet. 

“ That summer suit I outgrew may as well 
be handed on to Joseph,” Jimmy decided, toss¬ 
ing it out in the hall. 

Five minutes later they started off together, 
their arms laden. Near the little Italian set¬ 
tlement off Main Street, they found a proces¬ 
sion of people carrying their contributions. At 
the house Mrs. Campagna, with true Italian 
gratitude, was kissing the hands of her bene¬ 
factors. 



A PROCESSION OF PEOPLE CARRYING THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS 

, Page 194. 











ANNETTE’S VENTURE 


195 


“ Because of kin’ frien’s, to-night the Cam- 
pagnas sleep in their new home,” she cried. 

AVhen Norma had taken everything she 
could without consulting her mother, who was 
out, she returned to the Haleys, and was urged 
to stay to dinner. A Haley dinner was always 
a delight to Norma, who loved the unusualness 
of a big family, the overflow of conversation, 
and the many opinions. 

“ You haven’t eaten from our new china 
yet,” Betty reminded. 

“ I’ll telephone Mother later,” Norma 
agreed, and proceeded to help set the table 
with the new dishes. 

Near dinner-time she called her mother, who 
had arrived home and had sent additional loads 
of things to the unfortunate Campagnas,— 
cooking-utensils and dishes and various things 
that Norma had not thought of. 

At the table the Haleys began as usual by 
inquiring of one another what had happened 
during the day. 

‘‘ Sell any insurance, George? ” Ernest 
wanted to know. 

“ Saturday’s a bad day,” George returned. 


196 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


indirectly answering the question. “ Every¬ 
body’s too busy to see me.” 

“ What did you get done on the dresses, 
Annette? ” Daphne queried. 

“ Betty has hers stitched; of course, there’s 
a lot of finishing. Mine is cut out and basted.” 

“ I think Annette is clever; she ought to 
have a dressmaking-school,” Norma ventured 
somewhat timidly. It seemed presumptuous 
to advise a girl so much older. 

“ Norma says there are dressmaking-schools 
where the dressmaker cuts and fits and advises, 
and charges a dollar for a half-day,” Annette 
explained. ' 

You’re too yomig to try that,” Mrs. Haley 
objected promptly, looking anxiously at An¬ 
nette. “ You haven’t the experience. You 
should have years of experience before trying 
anything like that.” 

Daphne’s grey eyes enlarged. “ Styles 
change frequently, Mother. The principal 
thing is to learn the tricks of the prevailing 
mode—and then keep up with changes,” 
Daphne countered. 

“We just bought the house,” Mrs. Haley 


ANNETTE’S VENTURE 197 

reminded, “ and if Annette gave up her posi¬ 
tion and then didn’t make a success of her 

dressmaking-school-” The worried mother 

of the Haley brood broke off and sighed* pro¬ 
foundly. 

To Norma’s mind came something her 
mother had told her of Mrs. Haley’s girlhood. 
She had been the daughter of a prosperous 
farmer, and had been accustomed to plenty all 
her days, until her father had sold out to in¬ 
vest in some venture which had proved dis¬ 
astrous. Mrs. Haley had not been able to 
adapt herself to a commercial life, the pinching 
necessary to raise her family of five had told 
on her, and she could not understand any ag¬ 
gressive spirit her children might show. Risk 
to her was synonymous with disaster. When 
her children made plans that seemed to her full 
of chance, she became much like a hen that 
has hatched out ducks which insist on heading 
for water. 

“ Annette could make double what she is 
making,” Daphne affirmed. “ Don’t you re¬ 
member, Mother, that the only time you ever 
found a dressmaker who wasn’t busy, she 



198 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


spoiled your dress? A good dressmaker is al¬ 
ways busy. Annette has style, and she could 
come right down to Downs, Cotter, and Field’s 
for a few weeks as fitter, for experience. 
They’re so busy in the alteration department 
they don’t know which way to turn. She could 
see how things are finished, and what’s being 
worn.” Daphne looked appealingly at An¬ 
nette. 

The latter calmly went on with her dinner, 
and waited the outcome. “ When you two 
have decided what I’m to do, let me know,” 
she suggested. “ Really, I’m rather interested 
to know how the debate comes out.” 

“ It’s your chance, Annette,” Daphne argued 
beseechingly. “ Besides, there’s enough sew¬ 
ing for the four of us, to keep you busy until 
you establish your school.” 

“ Annette would make a go of it,” Ernest 
pronounced in his usual authoritative tone. 

‘‘Well-” Mrs. Haley hesitated, swayed 

by the thought of the difficulty of getting 
dresses made. A person hardly could fail, she 
could see, with any normal amount of ability. 
“ I suppose we have enough to keep her busy 



ANNETTE’S VENTURE 


199 


for quite a while. What do you think, 
Father? ’’ 

“ Let her try it. IVe plugged at one job, 
and haven’t dared take any chances. I don’t 
want the children to have to do that.” 

“The Annette School!” Betty exclaimed 
delightedly. “ Your name is just right.” 

“ This dressmaking business doesn’t seem 
very dignified to me,” George objected. 

“ It isn’t any different from teaching it in 
high school—not a bit,” Daphne countered. 

“Can you leave your office on a week’s 
notice, Annette? ” Daphne seldom abbreviated 
her sister’s name. “ It’s our busy season on 
dresses at the store. I know they’ll be glad to 
get you.” 

“You arrange for an interview for me for 
Monday noon,” Annette directed. 

A week later Annette was fitting customers 
in Downs, Cotter, and Field’s store—fat, good- 
natured ones who knew they could not look 
thin, and fat ones who would not admit they 
could not be made slim; thin women who 
wanted severe styles that made them look 
thinner, and careless women who did not care 



200 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


how they looked. Some appreciated Annette’s 
honest effort to make their garments becoming; 
some considered her part of the store ma¬ 
chinery. But Annette learned; every figure, 
every garment, meant a new lesson. To adjust 
a gown meant to find out how it was put to¬ 
gether. To her natural fund of information 
on the subject, the girl added a hundred de¬ 
tails concerning materials, styles, proper fit¬ 
ting, and finishing. Because she had a pur¬ 
pose in view, she was doubly observant of 
points she might otherwise have overlooked. 

When the two weeks for which she had 
agreed to help out were at an end, Annette 
went to the head of her department. 

“ I’m through, INIiss Bennett. I just stopped 
to say good-bye.” 

“ Oh, if you would only stay another week,” 
Miss Bennett urged. 

“No. I’m sorry, but I’m anxious to get 
started for myself. I know I can make a suc¬ 
cess of it,” Annette declared. “ People are so 
helpless, and there are so many needing the 
service I expect to offer. Wish me luck, Miss 
Bennett.” 


I 


ANNETTE’S VENTURE 


201 


“ I’ll wish you luck, but I’ll not need to. 
Your success is assured,” Miss Bennett af¬ 
firmed warmly. 

For the next week Annette was busy ar¬ 
ranging the sitting-room, with its three win¬ 
dows, for a sewing-room. She decided on a 
bare, painted floor as being easiest to keep free 
from threads. Cutting-table, sewing-machine, 
and the work-table for her ‘‘ pupils ” she placed 
near the windows. As she worked on the 
dresses for her mother and Daphne, Annette 
made engagements for the following week. 

Mrs. St. Clair made two appointments for 
the first week, and made a point of mention¬ 
ing Annette’s class at the club affairs where she 
later wore the dresses. People who at first 
cautiously made one appointment, made three 
or four ahead when they saw that the girl 
really knew what she was doing. Annette had 
fifteen engagements ahead by the end of the 
second week, and that meant that more would 
call up and want something “ right away.” 

“ The Annette School is a success,” she an¬ 
nounced at the end of her first real week of 
work. “ Every one is satisfied, and delighted 


202 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


with the economy, and with what they learn. 
And I like giving orders better than taking 
them,” she finished happily. 

“ Daphne’s like that, too, only more so,” 
Ernest stated with an innocent air. 

“ Some people were intended for giving 
orders,” Betty flashed back, in defense of her 
best-beloved sister. 


CHAPTER Xiy 


THE NEW YEAR 

On Christmas Eve Daphne burst into the 
house in the lively manner that Betty usually 
employed. She was helping, during the rush, 
to sell at some of the gift-counters, where she 
knew more about the articles than any one else, 
and had had more than a little success selling 
to discriminating people. When she reached 
home, the family were already seated at dinner. 

“ Why, Daphne, I thought you’d be dead 
tired,” Annette exclaimed in surprise, “ after 
to-day’s shopping crowd! You look as fresh 
as the proverbial daisy.” 

“ I wouldn’t do it, if I were in your place,” 
Ernest advised. It isn’t part of your job. 
I’d have told them sol ” 

Daphne gave him a queer look, then glanced 
at the clock. “ I have to be back in forty-five 
minutes. I’m not sorry I did it; everything is 
experience, and it pays to be obliging. Mr. 
Cotter asked me to-day whether I should like 

to do the buying for the department I’m in. 

203 


204 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


When I said I’d love it, he remarked that it 
would make a difference in my check, and that 
I might plan on going to New York with Miss 
Cain, right after Christmas, to select our new 
stock.” 

“ Oh, isn’t life a bore? ” Betty demanded in 
affected tones, unable to conceal her pleasure. 

“Daphne! So soon? Oh, you’ve been 
lucky 1 ” Mrs. Haley cried, as she started to the 
kitchen. 

“ It isn’t all luck,” Mr. Haley protested 
proudly. “ Daphne’s studied up on every kind 
of merchandise that entered the store, whether 
it was tapestries or alabaster.” 

“ I’m too excited to eat, but I suppose I’d 
better,” Daphne stated, looking at the plate of 
warm food her mother brought in and set be¬ 
fore her. She smiled and added, “ I didn’t 
mean to change the subject, of course.” 

“ Last week Annette made twice as much as 
she made in the office. Ernest, if you and 
George are going to keep up with the girls, 
you’ll have to step,” Betty counseled. 

Have to step ’ is slang, Betty,” Mrs. 
Haley corrected mildly. 


THE NEW YEAR 


205 


Ernest frowned at Betty’s remark, and 
George pretended not to hear. 

“ You used to bring home medals and 
things,” Betty hinted darkly. “You haven’t 
done anything for a long time.” 

“ How long will you be in New York, 
Daphne? ” Mrs. Haley asked, partly because 
she wanted to know, and partly because she 
hoped the question would divert Betty from 
her self-appointed task of teasing her brothers. 

“ About three or four days,” Daphne re¬ 
turned. “ And Miss Cain savs we’ll be enter- 

t/ 

tained a lot, taken out to lunch and dinner and 
the theater. I wish I had more clothes.” 

“ Take anything of mine you want,” An¬ 
nette offered. 

“ That doesn’t mean your new blue velvet 
that probably would be much more useful than 
my evening gown,” Daphne amended. 

“ It means everything. This is no time for 
haggling,” Annette retorted generously, and 
turned to her mother, 

“I notice hardly any one wants to come to 
class on Saturdays, Mother. I think I’ll not 
make appointments for Saturday, after this. 


206 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


Then I can help around the house and do our 
own sewing. I know it makes more work to 
have people coming into the house in all kinds 
of weather.” 

“ I’ll pay for Annie for another day a week, 
Mother,” Daphne offered. ‘‘ That will give 
you more time to get out. It’s too much for 
one woman to wait on six able-bodied people— 
or any other kind.” 

“ It will help a lot,—and save a lot,” Mrs. 
Haley answered gratefully. “ I’ll have time to 
make those new curtains we need so badly; 
they’ll cost about half as much if I buy the 
material and make them.” 

With a hasty “ Don’t know what time I’ll 
get home,” Daphne was gone. 

As usual on Christmas Day, Norma and 
Betty exchanged visits, to admire one another’s 
tree and gifts. On this Christmas Norma met 
Betty at the door. 

“ Guess who wrote me a letter, Betty,” 
Norma greeted, in accordance with their time- 
honored custom of imparting news while it was 
perfectly fresh. 

Betty kicked off the soft snow which always 


THE NEW YEAR 


207 


seems to fall on Christmas Day, and pulled 
off her arctics. “ I’ll guess the first time—Blue 
BeU!” 

“ Oh, did you get one, too? ” Norma wanted 
to know. 

“ No, but I got a card, and I felt sure you 
would be favored with a letter. What did she 
say? What is she doing? ” 

Norma pulled her friend in. Come on in, 
and read it. Sit over here by the fireplace.” 
Betty greeted the rest of the St. Clair family 
and accepted the letter. 

“ Dear Norma: 

“ Somehow I know you are responsible 
for the success I have been having here in 
Montreal, though I do not know just how you 
brought it about. Mr. Chorman said you men¬ 
tioned that I was interested in establishing a 
gift-shop in Montreal for the winter. He of¬ 
fered to rent space in the lobby of our best 
hotel here, as gift-shops in hotels in other cities 
have been very successful. I carry my own 
basketware, moccasins, pine pillows, and bows 
and arrows, and also the gift-stock from his 
store. While I am at school, one of tlie store 
clerks is in charge of the shop. When I am at 
liberty, I have charge. The store pays me for 


208 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


my time, and I make a profit on my own goods. 

“ It has been a wonderful success,—both for 
the store and for me,—as Christmas buying for 
the last month has been heavy, and traveling 
people take home many gifts when it is so con¬ 
venient to purchase them. 

“ My circulating library is a big success in 
the hotel, where people read—are simply des¬ 
perate for reading-matter! 

“ If you could know how much all this means 
to me, I could thank you. My father is quite 
helpless, and this income seems to be a per¬ 
manent arrangement, with perhaps some 
change for summer months. 

“ School life is doubly enjoyable when I have 
no financial worries. I play basketball, and as 
yet our team is undefeated. Tell Betty Haley 
I challenge her to another race, if we meet at 
the lake this summer. 

“ To your parents and foster-brother please 
convey my regards, and to yourself let me ex¬ 
press my deepest gratitude and love. 

- “Faithfully, 

“ Blue Bell.” 

“ Isn’t that just like her—only more talka¬ 
tive! ” Betty cried delightedly. “ Precise and 
sincere. More careful of her English than I 
am,” she sighed. “ Of course Daphne and 
Mother keep at me. It isn’t their fault.” 



THE NEW YEAR 


209 


“ Did Santa Claus bring you everything you 
wanted? ” Mrs. St. Clair asked. 

“ Every sensible thing I wanted,” Betty con¬ 
ceded. “ That’s the worst of growing up,— 
gifts get so sensible. But Mother says it was 
the nicest Christmas we ever had, and I guess 
it was. I saved the news, Norma. It’s about 
Daphne. She starts for New York day after 
to-morrow, to do part of the buying—all her 
expenses paid. Isn’t it wonderful? George 
says she probably will come home with an ac¬ 
cent, in which case he’ll leave home, never to re¬ 
turn until she has married and left! George and 
Ernest are both the least bit jealous, especially 
since Annette is making twice as much as she 
did in the office. She says she wondered she 
ever left the decision to Daphne and Mother. 
Remember, Norma, how she hesitated? Life 
is funny!” Betty paused. ‘‘Jimmy Rogers, 
are you laughing at me or with me? ” she de¬ 
manded threateningly. 

"'With you, of course; it’s the only safe 
thing to do,” Jimmy replied promptly, holding 
up a book for a shield, to ward off any attack 
Betty might make. 


210 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


“ I may talk a lot, but only when I have a 
lot to tell,’’ Betty stated in her most dignified 
tone. “ Besides, with all the competition I 
have at home, I never get caught up, and 
Mother won’t let any one of us interrupt an¬ 
other.” 

“ That’s a distinct hardship,” Jimmy sym¬ 
pathized, “ though it may be practical in a 
small family.” 

Betty decided to overlook whatever Jimmy 
was implying, and let him take her home. 

A week later Daphne returned from her 
trip, and was met by Norma and Betty. 

“ Hello, Daphne! How do you do. Miss 
Cain? ” Betty greeted, kissing Daphne rap¬ 
turously. 

“ I could hardly get her home, Betty, but 
here she is,” Miss Cain announced. 

“ Check your suitcase, Daphne. George will 
get it later; he’s coming this way,” Betty ex¬ 
plained. “ Now tell me everything. Was it 
as nice as you expected? ” she wanted to know. 

Before replying, Daphne said good-bye to 
Miss Cain, who was starting for her street-car. 

“ Nicer, Betty. I saw gorgeous things, and 


THE NEW YEAR 


211 


I learned a lot. I had to choose things priced 
low enough for Newbury, but I could look at 
the rest all I liked. I can see why Miss Cain 
is buyer; she looks at articles both ways—from 
the store’s viewpoint and from the prospective 
customer’s. It is what Newbury will buy that 
we must buy,” Daphne summed up. 

“ Wait,” Betty exclaimed, when they had 
reached Second Street. “ Mother wanted me 
to get fruit for breakfast. We’ll stop at Cam- 
pagna’s.” 

They entered the shabby little shop. Inside, 
Joseph came forward shyly. 

“ Working here during your vacation, Jo¬ 
seph? ” Betty asked. 

‘‘ All the time, now,” Joseph answered. “ I 
ain’t going to school no more. I don’t like it. 
I’m sixteen; I can quit. My uncle’s thinkin’ 
of startin’ another store, near the market, and 
I’m goin’a wait on this one.” 

“ But Joseph, if you’re going to be an artist, 
you must go to school,” Daphne remonstrated. 
“ You aren’t going to give up your drawing- 
lessons, are you? Norma and Betty are always 
telling me how good your work is.” 


212 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


Joseph looked gratefully at the two girls, 
turned to the window, and was silent. “ All 
my stuff burned,” he explained briefly. 

“ Oh! ” Daphne put a good deal of under¬ 
standing in the small word, for she knew that 
meant all his finished work, as well as his equip¬ 
ment. It had happened, too, just when he was 
discouraged about his high-school work. 

“ But didn’t you take drawing in high 
school? ” she pursued. 

“ They won’t let you take it in first year. 
You gotta take Latin and stuff,” he reminded 
rebelliously. 

“ I’ll bring you down one of my books on 
art. I have a wonderful set my uncle bought 
me. You can study it, and you’ll love it, 
Joseph. Don’t give up your painting alto¬ 
gether, even if you do leave school.” 

Joseph twisted an unoffending apple around 
by its stem and said nothing. 

Betty bought grapefruit and the girls left. 

‘‘ Isn’t that too bad? ” Daphne queried when 
they were outside. ‘‘ I’ll bring him that first 
book of my set, to-night. It’s simple, full of 
illustrations and things to copy, and tells the 


THE NEW YEAR 213 

beginner how to decide what line of work he 
should do.” 

They had reached the Haley house. “ I’ll 
wait here, if Daphne is coming right back any¬ 
way. I have to go home at once,” Norma 
explained. 

“ All right,” Betty agreed, but I wish you 
could come in for a while.” 

“ I’ll be out in a minute,” Daphne promised, 
and ran up the steps. 

When the three reached the fruit store 
again, Mrs. Campagna was there, a small, 
bow-legged girl clinging to her skirts and eat¬ 
ing a banana. 

“ I brought the book, Joseph.” Daphne 
opened it at random and laid it on the counter 
where wrapping was done. “ See? This chap¬ 
ter is on ‘ Originality.’ This plain pine-tree on 
level ground is merely pretty; the one on the 
rocky peak of the mountain stirs your imagina¬ 
tion. You know it has struggled on little soil. 
It is undersized and never will groAv much 
larger. It makes people feel, is more likely to 
sell than the other.” Daphne turned the page. 
“ Which dog do you like, Joseph—the one just 


214 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


sitting, or the same dog tied where he can’t 
reach his bone? ” 

“ The one that can’t reach the bone,” Joe re¬ 
turned promptly. 

“ Every one would,” Daphne agreed, “ and 
it is twenty times as likely to sell. Just go 
through this book, and when you’ve finished it, 
bring it back and I’ll let you have another, if 
you’re interested.” 

“ Thanks, I know I’ll like it,” Joe mumbled 
shyly. 

“ If you like it, draw me a picture that shows 
what you learned,” Daphne commanded. 

“ We don’ wann Joe be artist. Artist no 
getta money,” Mrs. Campagna objected at this 
point. “ Dey painta picture; nobody buy.” 

Picking up a newspaper. Daphne turned to 
a full-page advertisement. “ Somebody draws 
these pictures every day and gets paid. The 
card here that you display with your fruit gave 
some artist work, and the calendars on your 
wall, and cartoons, and programs. Somebody 
makes money on all these things. Miss Jame¬ 
son says Joseph has exceptional talent, and 
Miss Kane considered him one of her most 


THE NEW YEAR 


215 


promising pupils. I’ll help him, if he’ll bring 
his drawings to me.” 

In her amiable Italian fashion, Mrs. Cam- 
pagna smiled, but Daphne was not deceived. 
Joseph would receive no encouragement at 
home, to be anything that remotely resembled 
an artist. 

When Norma reached home, she repeated 
what she had heard. 

“ Mother, Joe’s given up school, because his 
brushes and things were all burned, and he 
hasn’t been doing anything with his painting. 
Isn’t that a shame? Daphne got after him, 
and made a special trip to give him a book to 
study.” 

“ I’ll buy him another painting outfit, 
Norma. Tell Daphne to pick out what he 
needs and charge it to me,” Mr. St. Clair 
ordered briefly. “I feel that I owe Joseph a 
little something.” 

“ Oh, Dad! That’s fine. I’ll call her up. 
No! She just got home from New York, and 
will have a lot to tell. I’ll wait until to-morrow 
and tell Bettv,” Norma decided. 

“ It might make all the difference in the 


216 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


world in what he does, if he gets the right help 
just now,” Mrs. St. Clair remarked musingly. 

Norma glanced at Jimmy, who was busy 
with his mechanical drawing on a small table. 
There was an odd look in his eyes; it seemed 
to Norma he was wondering where he would 
be, and what he would be doing, if the St. 
Clairs had not taken him into their home. He 
would be working, and boarding with strangers 
at Christmas time, instead of living as a mem¬ 
ber of the St. Clair family, and attending a 
school where he had become very popular in a 
few months. He had been made captain of 
the basketball team, which thought reminded 
Norma of something. 

“ Jimmy, Betty’s going to play center in 
Monday’s game. Are you going? ” 

“ I wouldn’t think of missing it. Ordinarily, 
girls’ basketball is a little slow, but if Betty’s 
in it, the game will be lively,” Jimmy declared. 

On the first school day of the new year 
Norma returned to her classes, to find each one 
reduced in numbers. When Elaine and Norma 
entered English class, Andrew Cole was hand¬ 
ing Miss Hendricks his books. 


THE NEW YEAR 


217 


“ Never any more schooling, Mr. Cole? ” 
Miss Hendricks was saying. “ You’ll have to 
compete with thousands of men who have fin¬ 
ished high school and college,” she warned. 

Andrew stood stupidly, as Norma had 
learned he always stood before answering. He 
was good-looking until called upon for a reply, 
when he always appeared at a disadvantage. 
“ I can’t learn. I’d rather work. I got forty- 
eight in Latin,” he argued eloquently. 

Even Miss Hendricks, S.A.K.A., found no 
answer to this, for Andrew’s English work, 
too, was wretched. She marked off her record. 
“ Think it over, Andrew. You won’t get far 
if you don’t study.” 

But Andrew hurried out, as if glad to escape. 

In each class there were four or five va¬ 
cancies, and friends reported that Clara 
Haynes and Henry Phillips and Carl Kurz 
would not be back. 

At noon Norma spoke of it to Betty, who 
replied: “More than that will drop out in 
June. They’d rather work than study; it’s 
easier for them.” 


CHAPTER Xy 

Betty’s game 


‘‘ Three more hours and the Daytona High 
will get walloped,” Betty exulted on Monday 
noon. 

By the middle of the afternoon the gym¬ 
nasium was filled with the excited followers of 
two teams. “ Oh, Norma,” Betty whispered, 
‘‘ if I could only tell, by looking at them, what 
kind of players they are,—but I can’t! ” 

“ Neither can they tell by looking at your 
team, Betty. It’s the first real game we’ve 
ever seen you play, isn’t it, Elaine? You’ll 
simply have to win.” 

Betty was actually shivering with excite¬ 
ment. “We have some good forwards, any¬ 
way.” 

“ And a good center,” Jimmy conceded. 

“ The forwards are the ones who throw for 
the basket and make the score, aren’t they? ” 
Elaine queried, trying to get the principal 
points of the game straight before the players 
started. 


218 


BETTY’S GAME 


219 


“ If they get the right kind of backing, they 
throw for the basket,” Jimmy amended. 

The whistle sounded, and ten excited girls 
took their places in the spaces marked off by 
the white painted lines. 

In the center, facing her opponent, who was 
a little shorter, Betty stood waiting for the 
tossing-up of the ball by the referee. Again 
the whistle sounded and the referee tossed the 
ball up between them. They jumped, each 
endeavoring to knock it toward her own for¬ 
wards; Betty was successful, as she was not 
only taller, but quicker. 

Ada James, for Newbury, caught the ball 
and tried for the basket, but was closely 
guarded by the Daytona player, and was 
obliged to throw for the basket at an awkward 
angle. She missed, and the Daytona guard, 
whose business it was to block every move of 
Ada, her opponent, caught the ball and threw 
it the length of the court to her own forward, 
who tried for the basket and made it. 

As the score-keeper chalked up two points 
for Davtona, the friends of the latter cheered. 
Newbury tried to look as if it did not matter. 


220 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


Again the ball was thrown up in the center, 
and again Betty proved quicker, striking the 
ball over to Mildred Heath, who tried to throw 
for the basket, but was balked by the Day¬ 
tona guard, was obliged to “ dribble ” it, or 
bounce it three times, as holding the ball is 
not allowed, and saw it grabbed by the guard, 
who again threw it the length of the court. 
Something about these long throws nonplussed 
the Newbury players, who were accustomed to 
see the ball thrown to the center and then 
passed on to the forward; furthermore, a ball 
thrown so far is thrown swiftly, and the eye 
cannot follow it so well. The Daytona team 
knew exactly what it was about, Betty saw 
that. Before the Newbury guard knew the 
Daytona forward had the ball, the latter had 
thrown another basket. 

‘‘ Four to nothing! ” Newbury was uneasy. 

There was little variation in the playing for 
the rest of the first half. Newbury guards 
worked nobly, and managed to keep Daytona 
from scoring more than once, but that meant 
six to nothing in favor of the visiting team! 

When the first half of the game was 


BETTY’S GAME 


221 


‘‘ called,” Newbury was quiet. There is so 
little to be said when the home team is losing. 
The Daytona players grouped in a corner and 
gave their cheer. It looked like what the boys 
called “ a slaughter.” 

The self-confident Betty avoided her friends, 
as she left the court. There are some griefs 
that must be borne alone; to Betty, this was 
one of them. It wasn’t just losing that hurt 
her; Betty was a good sport. It was the 
knowledge that her team was hopelessly out¬ 
classed. Norma watched her pityingly, and 
could think of no word of comfort, but Jimmy 
had an idea. 

“ Norma, tell Betty to come over here a 
minute, away from the Daytona players, will 
you? I want to tell her something.” Jimmy 
was a trifle mysterious, not to say impor¬ 
tant. 

Betty came, looking a little sheepish. “ I 
suppose you’re going to taunt me for bragging 
too soon,” she began. 

“ There’s no time for that,” Jimmy returned 
in a business-like way. ‘‘ Listen, Betty. 
You’ll have to reorganize. Their center is 


222 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


their weak point. Play against it. Their 
guards are good—better than our forwards. 
You’ve got to play this game alone. What 
they did three times in the first half of the 
game, they’ll do three times in the second half, 
if you let them. Their center is about a minute 
late, no matter what happens! 

“Now!” Jimmy seemed to take a fresh 
start. “ Notice how they throw the ball the 
length of the court, rather than depend on her? 
You’ve got to counteract that. Keep the ball 
in the center—where they don't want it, for the 
best of reasons. You, Betty, will have to make 
any baskets that are made for Newbury. Tell 
your guards and forwards to keep the ball in 
your hands, and in the center of the court. 
The Daytona players can’t cross the lines. 
That means you have no opponent but that 
center, who isn’t up to your speed. You can 
shoot baskets from the center of the court; I’ve 
seen you do it dozens of times. Now, Betty, 
you play the game alone.” 

Betty’s face was shining for an instant. She 
knew she could do it. Suddenly her smile 
faded. “ Wouldn’t I look nice telling our 



BETTY’S GAME 


223 


coach to let me play the game alone? ” she de¬ 
manded helplessly. 

“I’ll tell them. Call them over, Norma. 
We’ve just two minutes to arrange it,” he an¬ 
nounced, glancing at the clock. 

Norma carried the message to coach and 
players, who gathered in an eager knot around 
Jimmy, who, as captain of the boys’ team, 
ought to know something about strategy in 
basketball. Jimmy talked fast and convinc¬ 
ingly, and his words carried weight, for his 
own team was as yet undefeated. 

“ Do just that!” Miss Quiller commanded. 
“ Mr. Rogers is right. Keep the ball in Miss 
Haley’s hands! ” 

Scarcely had she finished the last word, when 
the whistle sounded for the second half. The 
girls fell into place, and Miss Quiller, as 
referee for the second half, tossed the ball up. 
Betty struck it toward her goal, and Mildred 
Heath caught it, returning it to Betty, who 
had time to jump free of her opponent. Be¬ 
fore the bewildered center could see what was 
happening, Betty had aimed carefully and 
made the first score for Newbury. 


224 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


The cheer that went up showed that New-^ 
bury had taken heart. 

“ If only they don’t see what we’re doing be¬ 
fore we get a score piled up,” Betty breathed 
to herself. She glanced at Jimmy, who nodded 
approvingly. 

The second time the ball was thrown up, the 
Daytona center managed to strike it toward 
her own side, but the alert forward passed it 
to her team-mate, who was in better position. 
The latter missed, and the Newbury guard 
threw it back to Betty, who again took aim and 
scored. She thought gratefully of her hours 
of practice in the barn. 

“Daytona—6; Newbury—4,” the score- 
keeper chalked up. 

Newbury players were beginning to consider 
every move in the light of what Jimmy had 
said. They did everything except what Day¬ 
tona expected them to do. Once when Betty’s 
opponent guarded her, she was obliged to 
throw to her forward, who missed it, but Betty 
was ready for the long throw the Daytona 
players could be counted on to make, and 
stopped it half-way down the court. As the 



BETTY’S GAME 225 

Daytona center started toward her, she aimed, 
and for the third time made a basket. 

“ 6—6/’ the score read. 

There was one minute to play, when a Day¬ 
tona player stepped over the line, and a foul 
was called, thus allowing the Newbury forward 
to stand on the line, take her time, and, un¬ 
guarded, aim for the basket. Mildred Heath, 
excited by the knowledge that everything de¬ 
pended on this play, missed. Newbury 
groaned. It had been such a chance! 

A half-minute left! A Daytona guard got 
the ball, tried her usual long throw, but too 
hastily, and it went outside the line, and must 
be thrown in by one of the opposing side. A 
second chance, if Betty got it! This time Ada 
James was allowed to throw. There was not a 
sound in the room when she tossed the ball to 
Betty, who threw neatly over the rim of the 
basket. It dropped through just before the 
whistle sounded, and cheers broke loose. Two 
points for a ball out! 

“ 8—6 in favor of Newbuiy! ” 

They carried Betty off the court, where Mr. 
Gray, the excitable chemistry teacher, who in- 



226 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


variably hopped around during a game, was 
waiting to congratulate her. 

Then a “ spread ” followed, with much talk, 
and the Daytona players proved themselves as 
good sports as players. They realized that 
they had been outgeneraled. 

When the visitors left, Miss Quiller called 
the girls about her, for the talk which a coach 
always seems to give after a game. The ath¬ 
letic reporter of the Newbury “ Star ” lingered 
near, notebook in hand. 

“ Girls, I want to commend all of you, not 
just the girl who made four baskets,” Miss 
Quiller emphasized. “ I’ve coached girls’ 
teams for ten years, and I never saw better 
team-spirit than you displayed to-day. I know 
the feeling a forward has when she holds the 
ball in her two hands and sees the basket over 
her head. It’s just human nature to want to 
throw it in. It’s just human nature to want 
personal glory. A dozen times I saw Miss 
Heath and Miss James look longingly at the 
basket, then throw it to Miss Haley. You for¬ 
wards could not have made the baskets. You 
were too heavily guarded. The Daytona 





They carried Betty off the court.—P ayc ^25. 










BETTY’S GAME 


227 


guards have played for three years. We 
played our strong point against their weak one 
—and team-work won. Isn’t that right, Miss 
Haley?” the coach asked, knowing the gen¬ 
erous Betty would agree. 

“ Absolutely,” Betty responded warmly. 
“ It makes me feel guilty when people con¬ 
gratulate me for having made four baskets. I 
stood in the center of the court, practically un¬ 
guarded, and either Miss James or Miss Heath 
could have done what I did, against such a 
weak opponent as the Daytona center. Team¬ 
work is the only explanation. If we figure 
every game out as Mr. Rogers did this one, we 
have a big season ahead of us, girls,” she fin¬ 
ished enthusiastically^ 

“ I saw every player trying to figure where 
Miss Haley wanted the ball, and getting it to 
her,” Miss Quiller informed them. 

‘‘ By the time they figured out what we were 
doing, it was too late for them to win the 
game,” Connie Mason contributed. “We 
were really lucky to lose the first half. If we 
had happened to win it, or to break even, we 
wouldn’t have had time to plan the second half 


'228 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


—and win.” Connie was the delighted captain 
of the Newbury players. 

“ Team-work wins,” the reporter inter¬ 
rupted. “ I’ll put it all in,—but Miss Haley 
certainly threw a long, strong, sure basket! ” 

On their way home Norma was exultant. 
“ Ill send a paper to Blue Bell,” she an¬ 
nounced. 

Jimmy, who had hung around, putting in 
time until the girls started home, joined them. 
“ Betty, what were all those fellows saying? ” 
he inquired curiously. “ It didn’t seem as if 
it would take them so long to congratulate you 
on your playing.” 

Sing-song fashion, Norma announced, “ I 
heard one of them ask her if he could take her 
to the Junior dance.” 

“Come on, Betty;” Elaine cajoled, “’fess 
up. How many invitations did you get? ” 

Betty blushed and looked away. “ Five,” 
she admitted, not without some pleasure. 

“Oh, Popularity thy name is Betty!” 
Jimmy chanted. “ Team-work is all right in 
its place, but a fellow doesn’t ask a whole team 
to a dance,” he concluded reasonably. 


CHAPTER XVI 


THE HALEYS, INCORPORATED 

Spring took its time about coming, but, as 
the practical Daphne said, it was a good thing, 
since the house wasn’t ready to sell. Ernest 
and George occasionally repaired things inside 
the house, but it seemed too early to begin on 
the yard and outside improvements. Besides, 
the boys had taken to studying, since Daphne 
and Annette had set an example not to be over¬ 
looked, and Betty had taunted her brothers 
whenever she thought of it, which was often. 

One evening after dinner, as the family sat 
in the living-room, Mr. Haley laid down his 
paper. Everything was quiet, until the rustle 
of the paper, as it dropped, made Mrs. Haley 
look up to see her husband rubbing his fore¬ 
head and eyes. “ Tired, Walter? ” she asked 
sympathetically. 

“ It’s my eyes, I guess,” he returned, with¬ 
out looking at her. 

‘‘ I wish you could give up bookkeeping. 

229 


230 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


Maybe you should have stronger glasses/’ Mrs. 
Haley suggested hopefully. 

“ These are as strong as I can get, so Dr. 
Carrington told me the last time he fitted me,” 
Mr. Haley admitted quietly. “ I’m afraid I’ll 
have to find something else to do, and it isn’t 
easy for a man of my age to ‘ find something 
else.’ ” 

“ You’re only fifty,” his wife countered. 

“ And, for some reason, a man of fifty is 
considered old,” he remarked. “ I’ve hung to 
this job just as long as I can. I’ve seen it 
coming, but didn’t like to say anything.” 

]\Irs. Haley wiped away tears she could not 
hold back. 

‘‘ Now, now, ^lother, don’t cry. I wouldn’t 
have mentioned it, if I hadn’t felt you must 
know it soon,” Mr. Haley comforted. 

“ With four of us working. Mother, we 
aren’t going to starve,” George reminded. 

“ But we’ve got this house on our hands,” 
Mrs. Haley remarked tremulously. 

“ We’ll not have it much longer,” Daphne 
put in. “ We’re going to sell it as soon as it 
is beyond reproach so far as repairs go; and 


THE HALEYS, INCORPORATED 231 


Uncle Herbert promised us twice as much as 
we make. Don’t forget that! ” 

“Why, Dad! You could do the painting 
yourself. Take some time off and rest your 
eyes, anyway,” Ernest urged. “ It would pay 
you.” 

“ Count the profit your year’s salary, Dad,” 
George counseled. “ T. C. Thompson does 
nothing else but buy up houses, repair them, 
and sell them. People don’t see what a house 
can be like unless it’s shining with new paint 
and varnish. Their lack of vision is lining his 
pockets. You could do what he’s doing; your 
judgment is as good as his any day.” 

“ I’d kind of like it, too,” Mr. Haley replied, 
trying to be enthusiastic, they could see, for 
their mother’s sake. 

“ You’d better give notice right away, and 
start on this place. Father,” George urged. 
“ The better it looks, the better price you’ll 
get, and the earlier it’s ready, the more time 
you have to sell it.” 

Betty, watching the others do the planning, 
felt rather out of it all. “ I’m not earning a 
thing,” she thought. 


232 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


“ It seems like taking an awful chance,” Mr. 
Haley sighed. 

‘‘ Dad, you got that idea when we were 
small,—and Mother, too,” Daphne warned. 
“ Five of us to feed meant so much respon¬ 
sibility that you don’t realize we’re all old 
enough to take care of ourselves. You’ve both 
fallen into the habit of worrying.” 

“ Yes,” Betty chimed in. “ Remember that 
Mr. Burd with the seventeen children? He 
drank and his wife washed. Then, after a lot 
of the older children grew up and started to 
work, and there was so much money coming in 
they didn’t know what to do with it, they built 
that big house, and Mr. Burd was so proud he 
gave up drinking and went to work,” Betty 
recounted solemnly. “ I bet he drank because 
he was worried.” 

The Haley family laughed helplessly at the 
comparison, and Betty stopped and pouted. 

“ Betty! ” This came severely from Ernest, 
as one who spoke for the head of the family. 
‘‘You aren’t comparing Father to that drunken 
Mr. Burd? ” 

“ He stopped drinking,” Betty insisted. 


THE HALEYS, INCORPORATED 233 

‘‘Well, Father’s going to stop working ^— 
just when Mr. Burd began,” Daphne re¬ 
minded. “ It’s a contrast, dear, not a com¬ 
parison.” 

But for once Betty was too serious to see 
anything funny in the conversation. “ You 
don’t see what I mean-” she began. 

“ What’s that noise? ” George asked. 
“ Some one knocking? ” 

They listened, and a timid knock sounded. 
Betty skipped to the door, glad to escape the 
persecution of her family. 

“ Oh, it’s you, Joseph! Come right in. 
Couldn’t you find the bell, or is it out of order? 
We didn’t hear it.” 

Joseph, tugging at his cap, stepped into the 
hall. 

“ I brought your sister’s book—and-” 

He held something else, wrapped flat in a 
newspaper. 

“ Daphne! ” Betty called, seeing that Joseph 
was too embarrassed to face the family. 

Daphne’s graceful form appeared in the 
doorway leading from the living-room, just as 
Joseph looked up doubtfully from the picture 





234 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


he had unwrapped. As the older girl took it, 
Betty looked over her shoulder, though she had 
been taught not to do so. 

“Oh, Joseph!” There was approval in 
Betty’s voice. 

“Joseph! You’ve got feeling Daphne 
pronounced. “ Let me show it to the family. 
Come on in for a minute. They will all want 
to see it and admire it.” 

Joseph edged slowly, until he was just in¬ 
side the door, and, at Mrs. Haley’s cordial in¬ 
vitation, slid shyly into the nearest seat. 

So they could all see at once. Daphne held 
up the picture at a little distance from them. 
It showed an old ragged woman, bent with age 
and hard work, peering into a window of gay 
scarfs and gloves and parasols,—things she 
never could hope to own, things that had no 
part in her drab life. 

“ What made you do it, Joseph? ” Daphne 
asked sharply. 

At the brisk note in her question, Joseph 
looked up in surprise. “ I saw a old lady—all 
rags—lookin’ at nice things,” he explained 
simply. 



THE HALEYS, INCORPORATED 235 


“ It was a good choice of subject, Joseph. 
There’s art in you; it’s human—the sort of pic¬ 
ture a person doesn’t forget. I’m proud of 
you, and I don’t need to ask whether you liked 
the book, for I can see you’ve profited by it. 
Shall I get you another? ” 

For answer Joseph nodded, but seemed un¬ 
able to express himself farther, and Daphne 
started for her room. 

She returned with the second volume of the 
set, and handed it to Joseph, who rose with 
evident relief. Daphne reached for his pic¬ 
ture, which was propped against a lamp on the 
table. 

“ The latter part of June there’s going to be 
an exhibit of local work. You take this home 
and work on it, Joseph. Make the old woman’s 
black shawl a little bit green,—you know how 
black fades out when it’s old,—and show her 
shadow on the gay things. You have a shadow, 
but I’d emphasize it a little. It’s pathetic; and 
when you make people feel, you’re an artist. 
And Joseph! ” She had followed him to the 
door. “ Promise me you won’t give up, will 
you? Work on this, and when you don’t know 




236 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


how to improve on it, bring it to me, and I’ll 
show it to Grace Kane, and tell you what she 
says. You may sell it at the exhibit. You 
won’t get a fortune for it, but you may sell it. 

“ By the way, did you like the things Mr. St. 
Clair had me send you? ” 

Joseph nodded. “ Yes—but I didn’t know 
where they come from.” 

“ Promise me you won’t give up your paint¬ 
ing, Joseph,” Daphne demanded. 

“ I’ll stick to it,” the boy mumbled, looking 
up as if half afraid. 

When Daphne had closed the door behind 
him, she noticed Ernest’s amused expression as 
he carelessly turned the page of a book on ac¬ 
counting. 

“ I tell you, a good stiff lecture like that once 
in a while will do him good,” Ernest brought 
out, as if he had long wanted to see Joseph 
punished for some persistent sin. 

Daphne stopped abruptly. “ Was I un¬ 
kind? ” she queried in surprise, and with more 
than a hint of remorse in her tone. 

“ He understood you, all right. Daphne,” 
Betty interposed. “ You were so solemn he 


THE HALEYS, INCORPORATED 237 


must have been terribly impressed by what he’d 
done. I think he was as much flattered as 
frightened. You kind of pounced on him,” she 
finished honestly. 

“ You make everything so clear, Betty,” 
George pronounced approvingly. “ You’re 
positively pellucid! ” 

“ What does that mean? ” Betty demanded 
suspiciously. 

“ Go and look it up,” George ordered sternly. 

“And let George know when you find out. 
I think he took a shot in the dark,” Ernest 
opined pleasantly, after the way of brothers. 

Betty made a dive for the dictionary, so that 
she might clear herself of any false charges her 
brother might have implied. It was a rule in 
the Haley house to “ look it up if you don’t 
know.” Once Betty had protested against the 
bother, and Ernest had offered her a penny for 
every word she looked up, whereupon George 
had taken a fiendish delight in airing his vo¬ 
cabulary, thus emptying Ernest’s pockets and 
driving Betty to distraction trying to keep up 
with the profitable game. 

George’s mind had gone back to the original 


238 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


discussion. “ Dad,” he began suddenly, as if 
an idea had struck him, “ why not get a two or 
three months’ leave of absence? Then if you 
want to go back, you have a loophole; you’ve 
been with the firm so long they should be will¬ 
ing to make some concession.” 

“ Yes, try it, Walter,” Mrs. Haley assented 
eagerly. “ That’s a good idea; at least it will 
give your eyes a rest.” 

“ I can be on the lookout for another house 
that has possibilities,” George continued. “ I 
get around a good deal, so I’ll find the place. 
Daphne will give the orders as to what shall 
be done with it, and Father will merely carry 
them out. We’ll all furnish the money,” 
George summed up, pleased with his scheme. 

The following evening Mr. Haley came 
home in high spirits. 

“ It’s all right. Mother,” he greeted cheer¬ 
fully. “ I can take a few months off. That 
will give me time to think. I know I can fix 
this house so you’d never recognize it.” He 
paused as another pleasant thought occurred to 
him. “Nice the way the children all want to 
help, isn’t it. Mother? ” 


THE HALEYS, INCORPORATED 239 


“ Yes, Walter. I noticed, and I guess we 
don’t need to worry so much with four of them 
working,” Mrs. Haley returned, as she bustled 
about, putting food on the table. 

The moment Daphne entered, Mr. Haley 
began to plan for what he called his “ working 
vacation.” The others were already there. 

“ Now, Daphne,” her father began, “ if 
you’ll just tell me what kind of paint you in¬ 
tend having on the house-” 

Daphne smiled at the thrust. As Betty said, 
it was no fun trying to tease her; she simply 
didn’t “ tease ” ; the boys were better subjects 
for that. “ That shiny brown, Dad,—and 
absolutely no trimming. Be sure it’s that 
chocolaty brown,” she admonished. 

“ I’m tired of brown. This house has looked 
like dry mud ever since I can remember,” 
Betty objected. 

“ Betty! ” George rebuked with mock se¬ 
verity. “ This is nothing short of insubordina¬ 
tion. Didn’t you hear Daphne specify 
^ brown ^‘ shiny chocolaty brown ’ ? ” he 
asked in astonishment. 

“ Oh, you’d think I was a Mexican general,” 



240 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


Daphne protested. “ Mother, am I bossy? ” 
she implored, looking anxiously at her mother. 

“ Well, you have very definite ideas. I 
guess that’s what George means,” Mrs. Haley 
evaded neatly, for she never would be drawn 
into the children’s discussions. 

“ Where do they get that particular shiny 
brown? ” Daphne went on, as if there had been 
no interruption. 

“ They put varnish in the paint,” Mr. Haley 
informed her promptly. “ It is a good effect. 
Daphne,—if the rest don’t vote us down.” 

But the Haleys put their blind faith in 
Daphne’s dictum, and in two weeks were re¬ 
warded. The house rose up taller—it actually 
seemed to—from the new green lawn that 
Ernest’s foresight had produced. The shiny 
dark brown—“ absolutely no trimming ”— 
made the house look larger on its wide lot. 
Daphne had ordered oyster-white shades, 
which, together with the new curtains her 
mother had provided, stood out as chastely as 
the girl had predicted they would. The house 
was at once subdued and shining and sure of 
itself. 





THE HALEYS, INCORPORATED 241 


Around the outside the family strolled, when 
it was completed, surveying it from various 
angles. Norma, who had been brought by 
Betty to admire it, declared she would not have 
known it. 

“ It looks twenty years younger,” Mrs. 
Haley marvelled. 

“ Won’t you hate to sell it, Betty? ” Norma 
asked curiously. 

“ Oh, yes,” Betty hesitated, and added hon¬ 
estly, “ but I’d like the excitement of moving 
and wondering where .we were going next.” 

With an abundance of leisure on his hands, 
Mr. Haley tackled the inside of the house, and 
results, as to walls, woodwork, and floors, were 
surprising. The scuffy stair shed its strip of 
carpet, Mr. Haley had varnished it, and 
Daphne had sent out rubber treads for it. 

By the time the bridal wreath and flowering 
currant, that hid the foundation in front, were 
in bloom, the house was sold to a fussy-looking 
woman with a poodle, which she carried about 
wherever she went. 

“ Everything is in such good condition,” she 
approved. “ Yes, if I can have it by the first 


242 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


of June, I guess the price is right,” and she 
went off, leaving the Haleys to make new 
plans. 

“ Two thousand dollars profit! ” Mr. Haley 
gloated. 

“ Times two, ’cause Uncle Herbert said he’d 
double it,” Betty reminded, though she did not 
need to. 

“ Where do we go from here? ” Ernest in¬ 
quired slangily. 

“ Not where it will injure my business,” 
Annette interposed. 

“ I’ve been wondering about that flat on 
Chestnut Street,” George began. 

“ But George, it’s jammed right u]d against 
Cleghorn’s place, and then that little old house 
where Mrs. Caldwell lives is the other side of 
Cleghorn’s,” Mrs. Haley protested. 

“ Exactly, Mother,” George returned, “ and 
that’s why we can make a profit. I don’t sup¬ 
pose Cleghorn is any better pleased with the 
dark rooms he must have, than we should be. 
If he’ll buy the Caldwell lot and then move 
the shack off, he could move his house over 
about fifteen feet—maybe more—and we 




THE HALEYS, INCORPORATED 243 

could buy an extra fifteen feet to lessen his ex¬ 
pense—and widen our lot. It would cost him 
something, but it would be worth more than 
it costs in the value of the place alone, to say 
nothing of the pleasure to him.” 

“ But we don’t want flats,” Mrs. Haley de¬ 
clared. 

“ Yes, we do, Mother,” Annette broke in. 
“We needn’t rent the upper. We would live 
in the whole house, and I could have my busi¬ 
ness up-stairs in the front, where there’s plenty 
of light. That would mean plenty of bedrooms 
and closet-space—things we need badly. If 
my work is up-stairs, people needn’t come 
through your house at all, but go right up the 
stairs of the upper flat.” 

Mrs. Haley considered all this. 

“ Then if we wanted to move, we might keep 
the flats and rent them, instead of selling,” she 
remarked thoughtfully. 

“ And if George and I go to the State Uni¬ 
versity this fall, you won’t want so much 
room,” Ernest put in. 

“ Are you planning to go, Ernest? ” Daphne 
questioned hopefully. 




244 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


“ Yes. There ought to be enough money to 
start another house going, and keep us in col¬ 
lege a year, with what we’ve saved,” Ernest 
replied. “We can help Dad put another place 
in shape. I hope this Cleghorn sees the idea as 
we do; everything depends on that.” 

“ You want to urge him. Dad. Make him 
see it. It’s to his advantage,” George advised. 

“ You leave Cleghorn to me,” Mr. Haley re¬ 
plied slowly. “ You young people, with your 
modern ideas, forget a few things. People 
don’t like to have an idea pushed at them; they 
like to do some of their own thinking. I’ll 
sketch the idea to Mr. Cleghorn and ask his 
opinion; tell him to think it over and let me 
know. By the next morning he’ll think the 
whole plan was his own,—and I won’t set him 
right.” 

“ I didn’t know you were so subtle. Father,” 
Mrs. Haley remarked dryly. 

“ I’ve watched the officers of the company 
argue about things, and I notice that the man 
who lets the other fellow do some of the think¬ 
ing usually has his way in the end,” Mr. Haley 
explained. “ Maybe my business education 


THE HALEYS, INCORPORATED 245 


isn’t all wasted, even if I didn’t get to be any¬ 
thing but a bookkeeper,” he sighed. 

Whether it was Mr. Haley’s tact and diplo¬ 
macy, or merely self-interest on Mr. Cleghorn’s 
part, he saw the advantage of a wider lot and 
consequently lighter rooms. 

Reluctantly the Haleys moved from the 
comfort of the place they had fixed up, to the 
partly darkened flat on Chestnut Street. It 
was a good building, solid brick with “ no non¬ 
sense about it,” as George said, but two of 
the rooms were undeniably dark. Even 
Daphne had to conceal her disappointment by 
talking briskly about minor improvements. 
Annette was delighted. There was plenty of 
light in the big bay window up-stairs in the 
front, and her customers came up the stairs 
which belonged to the flat, instead of “ track¬ 
ing through ” her mother’s rooms, as before. 

On the day the Caldwell cottage, two houses 
down, was moved away, and the work of put¬ 
ting additional foundation beside the Cleghorn 
house begun, the Haleys watched with intense 
interest. It had seemed as if delays of one 
kind and another would continue indefinitely; 


246 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


three families had to be satisfied with the terms, 
and two contractors obtained during the busy 
season. A load lifted from their minds when 
the little dark house was finally hauled igno- 
miniously down the street. Another delay, and 
the contractor who was to put in the new 
foundation for Cleghorn’s house began his 
work. Eventually work was started on the 
shifting of the house to its new.foundation. 

It was only a few weeks since they had 
moved in, but it seemed like months before the 
Cleghorn house was moved over fifteen feet 
farther from the Haleys’ new home. The 
workmen finished at night, just as dusk was 
falling, but when morning came, the Haleys 
wandered from room to room, rejoicing at the 
better view and the light rooms, and made 
plans for a rose-garden between the houses as 
soon as the deed to the extra fifteen feet 
should be secured, and the old cellar filled in 
and leveled. 

Meantime school was about to close, and 
Betty murmured regretfully about her lost 
gymnasium. 

“ If I only had my gymnasium. I want to 


THE HALEYS, INCORPORATED 247 


earn some money, too; everybody else in the 
family does. Daphne, do you suppose I could 
get in your store? Still,” without waiting for 
a reply, “ that isn’t outdoors. I like being out¬ 
doors.” 

As Betty was leaving the last gymnasium 
session of the school year, Miss Burdick settled 
her problem by calling Betty to her. 

“ Miss Haley, didn’t you say something 
about having a successful gymnasium of your 
own last summer? ” Her dark eyes twinkled, 
for Betty had given her a very enthusiastic and 
vivid account of it. 

“ Yes, but I have no ]3lace for it this year,” 
Betty replied mournfully. 

“ That’s good,” Miss Burdick returned 
coolly. 

“ Good? ” Betty gasped. But-” 

“ I’ve talked school playgrounds for sum¬ 
mer-time until the board has actually consented 
to ‘ try it.’ I recommended you for the Fourth 
Street school. Would you like it? ” 

“Oh, you darling, you knew I would!” 
Betty squealed. 

Miss Burdick laughed at Betty’s unbridled 



248 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


enthusiasm. “ There may be some rough boys, 
though they’re only allowed in if they are 
twelve years or under.” 

“ I can manage them,” Betty laughed, and 
hurried home as fast as her new dignity would 
allow. 

' “ Mother,” she called out, and, without wait¬ 
ing for her mother to reach the hall to see what 
calamity had befallen, she made her announce¬ 
ment. “ I’m a teacher,” she began impres¬ 
sively. 

“ Teacher of what? ” Mrs. Haley inquired, 
with only mild interest. 

‘‘ G3TOnasium, of course,” Betty replied in 
the tone that seemed to question the fact that 
there was anything else a person could or 
would teach. 

“What do you mean?” Mrs. Haley pur¬ 
sued with more interest, and some amusement. 

“ I’m in charge of Fourth Street school 
summer playground. I’ve been helping Miss 
Burdick all year with freshman gym, and she 
bulldozed the school board into appointing me.” 

“ Don’t say ‘ bulldoze,’ Betty. A teacher 
wouldn’t, you know,” her mother scored neatly. 


THE HALEYS, INCORPORATED 249 


“ I wish everybody’d hurry home, so I could 
tell them the news. I’ll help you now. Mother, 
and then I can go and meet Daphne.” 

Glancing thoughtfully in the mirror of the 
buffet, and holding back her coarse, taffy- 
colored locks, Betty studied the effect of a 
more dignified headdress. “ I wish I hadn’t 
had my hair bobbed!” she decided aloud, 
frowning at her youthful image. 

Mrs. Haley laughed as she watched her 
youngest daughter, who suddenly opened the 
buffet drawer and lifted out a table-cloth. It 
occurred to her that Betty extracted the last 
shred of enjoyment from any situation, that 
she dramatized every small happening into an 
important event. That was what it meant to 
be young and strong and full of the joy of 
living. 

“I’ll set the table now, even if it is a little 
early. And, Mother, don’t forget I’ll have a 
salary—twelve dollars a week! Isn’t that a 
lot, when the work is nothing but play? Well, 
there’s just that much less for you to worry 
about. In fact, I don’t see that you need 
worry at all, any more,” she stated with finality. 


250 NORMA’S FRIENDS 

as she snapped the table-cloth on in her own 
brisk way. 

Already Betty felt that she was carrying a 
large share of the family’s financial burden, 
and, like any one else who is doing the work 
he really loves, she would not have changed 
places with the President, or any one else. To 
Betty there were two classes of people in the 
world: those who had charge of playgrounds, 
at twelve dollars a week; and those who held 
other jobs, at enormous salaries sometimes. 
The latter class were to be pitied. 


CHAPTER XVII 


SOMETHING LONG AND GREEN 

When the great day for the art exhibit ar¬ 
rived, Joseph hung about Newbury Hall in 
his apologetic way, as if he were not entitled 
to space anywhere on earth, let alone on the 
particular spot where artists displayed their 
work. He roamed about, enjoying the paint¬ 
ings and drawings, trying to judge them by 
the knowledge his teacher and Daphne had put 
in his hands. 

“ Too many bowls and vases of flowers,” he 
thought. Those sunflowers with the broken 
wooden fence back of them, and the pump with 
the rusty cup at one side, made a better pic¬ 
ture. It made you think of things,—summer 
days in the country, and little white houses, 
and the funny noise grasshoppers made. 

There was a woman who was too long- 
waisted; the second book Daphne had loaned 
him said women were shorter-waisted than 

men, as a rule. Joseph was careful about his 

251 


252 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


drawing, to get things the right proportion, 
and Miss Kane called his work good. When 
he thought of that, the sun seemed to shine 
brighter. He was learning; already things he 
had read were taking shape in his mind, so that 
he could criticize a picture by the standard he 
had formed. He went over them now, choos¬ 
ing a good subject that had not been done to 
death, and that would make people “ feel ’’ and 
sympathize,—but not too gloomy; watching 
proportion and perspective, then color; keep¬ 
ing the principal object in the picture a little 
to the right of the center. 

A woman passed in front of Joseph and 
stopped before his picture, then beckoned to 
her husband. “ Look, Wilbur. Isn’t this 
touching? ” she asked. 

“ H’m—amateurish, but a good subject,” 
the man replied. “ If it were better done, I 
should like to own it.” 

Joseph wondered if they could hear his heart 
beating. His work received praise and blame, 
too. He wished the man would go on and say 
what was wrong. Miss Kane had said to work 
and work until a picture was above reproach; 



SOMETHING LONG AND GREEN 253 

now he could see the wisdom of that. If it had 
just been a little better, he might have sold it! 

As he stood wishing that the strange man 
had told what was wrong, Joseph saw Daphne 
Haley enter briskly, smiling at him as at an old 
friend. He was accustomed to being shunned 
by people not of his own race, or, if noticed at 
all, only to be called “ Dago ” ; he heard that 
often enough at school, and nobody knew how 
it hurt,—as if Italians weren’t as good as any 
one. They did not make personal remarks 
anyway; they were too polite. Daphne came 
toward him. 

“ Hello, Joe! Are people noticing your pic¬ 
ture? ” Daphne wanted to know. 

Her keen interest in his work Joseph always 
found gratifying. “Yes; everybody looks at 
it. One man said it was a good subject, but 
—‘ amatchure ’—something like that. And 
he’d like to own it if it was done better.” Jo¬ 
seph was faintly embarrassed over the word he 
couldn’t quite get. 

“ Just keep after it until it is right, Joe. 
What would you do first to improve it? ” 
Daphne asked in her business-like way. 


254 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


“ I was thinking maybe the things in the 
window ought to—stand out more. The old 
lady is awful shabby, and the things she wants 
should be awful bright and pretty.” 

‘‘Yes-” Daphne agreed absently. She 

was wondering about Joseph’s speech. How 
could she tell him, tactfully, for he was pain¬ 
fully sensitive, that it would count against 
him? “ Yes—^v^hen you made the shadow so 
plain, that indicates a strong light, so the gay 
things should be gayer and more desirable.” 
Daphne tapped her fingers on her purse, a 
proceeding which seemed to produce results 
immediately. 

“ Joseph,” she commanded suddenly, “ take 
that picture home now and work on it. This is 
only the first day of the exhibit; you have a 
week. Get it back before the end of the week, 
—as soon as you can, without hurrying too 
much. You might make the old lady’s hand 
on her cane a little more knotted and gnarled. 
It would be more convincing. Make the pretty 
things bright and alluring; you can’t overdo it 
in this particular picture. Bring it back when 
you’re sure you can’t do any more to it.” 




SOMETHING LONG AND GREEN 255 


Carefully Joseph lifted the picture down, 
hunted up a newspaper in which to wrap it, 
and carried it home, where he made the dainty 
things in the window to stand out in a tempt¬ 
ing array of color, and brought out the swollen 
veins on the woman’s hand. 

On Wednesday when he hung it again, he 
knew it was better, and was glad he had men¬ 
tioned to Betty, when she was in the store, that 
it was ready to display. He had told her to 
tell her sister, and hoped Daphne Haley would 
see it soon. He stood about for a time, think¬ 
ing she might appear, but finally gave up and 
returned to the store, where his uncle scolded 
him for his long absence. 

“ You t’ink I sell pictures or fruit, Joe? I 
sell fruit —no starve,” Nicholas Campagna re¬ 
marked significantly. 

But Joe scarcely heard; he was wondering 
when he should see Daphne Haley and what 
she would say,—and whether the picture ever 
would sell. 

The week passed, however, and no lover of 
art seemed to feel that he could not live with¬ 
out Joseph’s picture. On the last day of the 


256 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


exhibit, as Joseph reluctantly gave up hope, 
Daphne stopped in the store to see him. 

“ I’m sorry it didn’t sell, Joseph, but very 
few did, you know. It’s much better, since 
you worked on it. Grace Kane and I were 
talking over what you could do with it, and 
she wants to send it to a fashion journal—if 
you’ll let her—for a cover-design. It would be 
something different from what they’re using; 
they always seem to have a smartly-dressed 
woman holding a Russian greyhound. Miss 
Kane will write the sort of note that will help 
sell it. Are you willing to try? ” 

“ Sure,” Joe replied awkwardly. “ She 
knows more about it than I do. My mother 
makes fun of me for not sellin’ it,” he added. 

Mentally, Daphne added to the bare state¬ 
ment. They probably hectored and badgered 
him about it, until life was not worth living. 
Miss Jameson had said that parents always 
objected to having their children encouraged 
if they showed talent for painting. 

‘‘ Don’t be disappointed if it doesn’t sell, 
Joe. It’s only a chance,” Daphne warned as 
she departed. 



SOMETHING LONG AND GREEN 257 

The following three weeks seemed like three 
years to Joe, who, in his ignorance, had sup¬ 
posed there might be a letter of acceptance or 
rejection in three days. He decided that the 
picture was lost, or that Miss Kane had for¬ 
gotten to send it; and wished he had the 
courage to ask about it. 

Eventually, however, after the three weeks 
of doubting and hoping and explaining to a 
taunting family, an important-looking, long, 
thin envelope came to Joseph’s uncle’s store, 
and Joe pulled out something long and green 
that said, “ Pay to the order of Joseph Cam- 
pagna—Forty Dollars ” ! Everything seemed 
to swim and have a queer, bluish look, and 
part of the time the figures looked like $04. 
His first impulse, after things began to stay 
in their assigned places, instead of moving 
around in that queer way, was to tell Daphne 
Haley. She would not be home until dinner¬ 
time. Two hours to put in, waiting on absurd 
customers who considered fruit and vegetables 
important when nothing in the world mattered 
but something long and green that said, Pay 
to the order of Joseph Campagna—Forty Dol- 


258 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


lars ” ! Several times he took the envelope out 
of his pocket, to be sure that was what it said, 
and when his uncle came in, and later his 
twelve-year-old sister, Joseph merely looked at 
them—and said nothing. Daphne Haley 
should hear it first. 

Confidently this time he went to the Haleys’ 
home, and asked for Miss Daphne Haley. 
After all. Daphne had come home early, and 
was in her studio, so that her mother had to 
call her to come down. 

Joe’s eyes were eloquent as he held out the 
letter and the check to the girl who greeted 
him. He was sure now of approval, and had 
forgotten his shabbiness and halting tongue. 

“ Good! I thought it would sell, Joe. Oh, 
I’m just as pleased as if I had sold one my¬ 
self! I’m just as glad as you are! Did you 
call up Miss Kane? What did your mother 
say? ” Daphne was almost beside herself. 

t 

“ Oh, the letter, yes.” She took the letter Joe 
held out, and read it with sparkling eyes. 

“ A little out of our line of covers, but for 
that very reason we are taking it. We prefer 


SOMETHING LONG AND GREEN 259 


something a little more cheerful as a rule. We 
enclose a check, which we hope will be satis¬ 
factory, and trust we may hear from you 
again.” 

“ It’s too good to be true, Joe, and remem¬ 
ber it’s partly luck. Artists don’t start that 
way; they work and slave and try and fail over 
and over again. Don’t think you’ll get a check 
every time. And, Joe, if you don’t mind my 
saying it, spend the money on more lessons. 
Make every success bring you another,” 
Daphne counseled, as Joseph took the check 
and the letter and started to leave. 

Daphne watched him as he walked down the 
street. She frowned slightly. She had a real 
plan for Joseph’s future, if only he weren’t so 
careless of his speech and appearance. She 
sighed as she mounted the stairs to her own 
studio. Joseph had so much to learn besides 
art,—and did not realize it. Then she smiled 
happily, as the vision of something long and 
green came before her eyes. 


CHAPTER XVIII 


JIMMY CREATES A JOB 

On the last Saturday in June, Jimmy sat in 
a deep window of the living-room, watching 
the rain. Norma had started to sew, but found 
it too dark, and so listened idly to her mother’s 
playing. 

“ Aunt Alice, will Uncle want to drive to 
Portland to-morrow if it is raining? I don’t 
want him to think he has to, just because he 
promised,” Jimmy stated. 

Before replying, Mrs. St. Clair turned over 
a sheet of music she was about to play. “If it 
isn’t raining too hard, he won’t mind, I guess. 
Are you very anxious to go? ” 

“ Oh, I always feel that the next visit I 
make to Portland I surely will find that miss¬ 
ing box. It must be on the premises and in 
the house. Aunt Selina said Mother was sav¬ 
ing for my education, and naturally I’d like to 
know what’s in the box, so I can make my 

plans. Next year will be my last, you know, 

260 


JIMMY CREATES A JOB 


261 


The Hohlers are willing to buy the house, but 
I can’t bring myself to sell it while that box 
is in it.” There was a baffled look on Jimmy’s 
usually serene face as he spoke. 

“ Don’t worry, Jimmy; just be thankful you 
know the Hohlers are nice, honest people you 
can trust. If they find it, they’ll tell you. Of 

course, if they sold it again-” She broke 

off at the thought of all the complications that 
would create. 

“ Let’s each think of some place it might 
be,” Norma put in. “ Then to-morrow we’ll 
have something to work on, when we get 
there.” 

“ I can’t think of any more, I’m sure,” her 
mother returned. 

“ Usually Aunt Selina told me where she 
put the box, when she changed its hiding- 
place,” Jimmy continued, “ and she did have 
some funny ones—like the bottom of the bread- 
box, and in a flour-sack, and between the 
covers of a book that had come apart, and in 
the umbrella-stand.” 

Norma laughed at the list of places. “ Well, 
that gives us some idea of her hiding-places.” 




262 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


“ We’ll simply have to find that box to¬ 
morrow,” Jimmy pronounced, with determina¬ 
tion. 

Morning dawned clear and fair, and Mr. St. 
Clair said they might as well drive to Portland 
as anywhere, and that he rather enjoyed hunt¬ 
ing for the box. 

On the way Jimmy repeated what little he 
knew of the contents. 

“ Mother was a teacher, you know,” he be¬ 
gan, ‘‘ and she had a little money saved when 
she was married. Uncle Arthur says she put 
most of it in fake stock. She wouldn’t tell any 
one what it was, because she did not want them 
to criticize if it didn’t prove profitable. She 
said she would tell them when the firm made 
good. 

“After Father died. Aunt Selina came to 
live with us, and then, when Mother died. Aunt 

Selina still staved with me. She had an in- 

•/ 

surance annuity her husband had left, and the 
house was my father’s. Uncle Arthur said the 
stock was probably oil or gold or some other 
wildcat stuff, but Aunt Selina said Mother 
had more sense, and that whatever Mother 


JIMMY CREATES A JOB 


263 


bought was from reliable men, anyway, whether 
they made good or not. There was about 
enough money in a bank somewhere for a year 
of college.” 

“ Do you remember your mother, Jimmy? ” 
Norma asked. 

Jimmy looked off into space, as if trying to 
recall her memory, then slowly shook his head. 
‘‘No. I was only three years old when she 
died.” 

The combined efforts of the three St. Clairs 
and Jimmy, to say nothing of the Hohlers, 
failed to produce the mysterious black box. 
They examined baseboards and clocks and the 
springs of a sofa and two chairs, among other 
things, and finally gave up the search. The ride 
home was a silent one, during which Jimmy 
tried to forget the matter. 

On IMonday morning the boy found himself 
again at the Gorham Steel, working as assis¬ 
tant timekeeper. It was a busy summer, and 
men were hard to get. The plant lay on the 
outskirts of the city, opposite rows and rows 
and rows of hideous houses, which belonged to 
the company, and were occupied by their em- 


264 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


ployees. There was much dissatisfaction and 
constant laying-off of men and hiring of new 
ones. 

In Jimmy’s mind, as he surveyed the ugly 
surroundings, blackened by smoke from the 
steel mill, was his dream of some day “ turning 
things to account.” 

Mr. Taylor,” he said one day to his chief, 
who had stopped for a word with the boy, “ it 
seems to me those five acres the company is 
holding,” he nodded in the direction of a weed- 
grown field, “ could be used by the employees 
for truck-gardens. I understand the company 
is simply holding the land in case they should 
want to build on it, or run in tracks and sid¬ 
ings.” 

“ Why, the men could use it, I suppose,” 
Mr. Taylor replied, “ but it’s only clay—dis¬ 
carded farm, you know, like all the land near 
the city.” 

“ There’s no objection to clay for most vege¬ 
tables, if it can be broken up. At home we 
had clay in the back yard, but we dumped on 
five or six loads of foundry sand, to keep the 
soil broken, and had wonderful gardens for 


JIMMY CREATES A JOB 


265 


several years. We raised everything we 
wanted. The Gorham has plenty of sand from 
its own foundry. The land could be ploughed 
up by a tractor in a day or so, and, with plenty 
of the sand the company is hauling around, 
trying to dispose of, those five acres would be 
a garden in a few weeks,” Jimmy explained 
seriously. 

“ If you want me to. I’ll speak about it to 
the manager, Mr. Downey,” Taylor offered, 
looking at Jimmy curiously. 

“ It seems to me it would be worth while,” 
Jimmy answered slowly, casting about for pos¬ 
sible objections. “ I don’t see why the com¬ 
pany should mind.” 

Three days later, with no small amount of 
satisfaction, Jimmy read the typewritten no¬ 
tices which were posted about the huge plant. 
“ Any one desiring free garden space in the 
company’s lot, apply to the superintendent’s 

office. Land will be partially ready for plant- 

* >> 
mg. 

The next morning a tractor, rented by the 
company, was at work, turning up the soil 
which had lain useless for years. Immediately 


266 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


after, the company’s trucks began hauling the 
foundry sand, depositing it on the newly- 
turned furrows. A harrow followed, break¬ 
ing the clods and allowing the sand to filter 
through. There was a rush for plots, the de¬ 
mand increasing when the field turned almost 
over night from a sea of weeds to a series of 
neat little plots, with the owners’ names and 
numbers appearing on boards at the sides in 
rows. 

One morning Jimmy arrived to find Taylor 
watching for him. “ You’re elected to a new 
job, Jimmy Rogers, in addition to your present 
one. I thought you’d like it,—advisory coun¬ 
sel for the new Gorham Farms,” he grinned. 
“ The men like the garden idea, and we’re hav¬ 
ing less trouble keeping them satisfied, as they 
don’t want to leave their gardens. One of our 
Italians came in this morning wreathed in 
smiles; he had stopped on the way to work to 
look at his garden, and found his radishes had 
come up in four days. 

“ Now the men need guidance,—some one to 
settle their disputes and answer their questions. 
Does the job appeal to you? ” Taylor asked. 


JIMMY CREATES A JOB 


267 


“ You guessed it, Mr. Taylor,” Jimmy 
conceded. “ I’ll enjoy having a finger in it.” 

“ The company is pleased with the way it’s 
working out, and they want things to run 
smoothly, so you’re chief diplomat.” 

“ Then I’m free to tell the men not to fill 
their plots up with lettuce. Every one’s plant¬ 
ing lettuce, and there will be nothing else if 
they aren’t stopped. I’d like to have them try 
for two crops, too—some of the early things, 
and then corn or potatoes later.” Jimmy was 
enthusiastic over the job he had created for 
himself. 

He loved to watch the men hurry over at 
noon after lunch, to see what had sprouted the 
night before, and to hear them boast about 
their superior knowledge of farming. More 
than one man counted every sprout until things 
had progressed to where it was no longer pos¬ 
sible. 

Jimmy felt the joy of creating; of making 
waste land to blossom and contribute to the 
needs of man; and, mirrored in the hearts of a 
hundred men, he saw his own joy reflected. 
They, too, knew the thrill, the feeling of power 



268 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


at having called into being even a fuzzy-topped 
carrot, an unromantic blade of onion, or a 
homely-leafed radish. The magic of his idea 
entranced him, and he loved to close his eyes 
and visualize the five acres of forlorn weeds 
that had been, then to open them and see the 
fruitfulness of the same field. Jimmy loved to 
reclaim, to turn waste into profit, for he was 
a born efficiency engineer. 

There was a natural comradeship between 
him and the men, with whom he rejoiced over 
the green things they had called into existence. 
Only one who has created something, knows 
the joy it brings; and what each man felt for 
his little plot, Jimmy felt for the whole five 
acres. 

There were days when there was no hoeing 
or weeding to be done, but the love of grow¬ 
ing things, of producing, that is in every human 
heart, though sometimes buried deep, drew the 
men to their plots. There were friendly argu¬ 
ments,—and arguments not so friendly, when 
Jimmy had to intervene and convince two men 
that they were both right. 

As he compared the plots, Jimmy was sure 


JIMMY CREATES A JOB 269 

that things grew better for the Italians; it 
seemed as if the love they bestowed on grow¬ 
ing things was returned many fold. 

Sometimes he had to beg the men to thin 
things, so ignorant were they of the necessity 
for space. “ They will be twisted and dwarfed, 
Ivan, if they aren’t thinned to six inches 
apart,” he told a Russian. ‘‘ Carrots should 
not be closer than six inches. They will be fine, 
if you will thin and transplant them.” 

“ Ivan no room put,” laconically. 

“ You haven’t space? Well, give some to 
Tony. His garden is not full. He neglected 
to plant the space left when his radishes were 
gone.” 

■ Ivan shook his head. “ No give Tony; Tony 
buy carrot.” 

Tony only grinned, and Jimmy thought 
quickly. 

‘‘ Tony, will you let him use your space if 
he gives you half of the carrots you raise? ” 

Again Tony grinned and nodded assent. 

‘‘ Half the carrots, Ivan. All right? You’ll 
get more in the end. I’m telling you right,” 
Jimmy urged. 


270 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


Rather reluctantly, as if not wholly con¬ 
vinced that it was the thing to do, Ivan thinned 
the carrots and planted them in Tony’s plot, 
while the latter grinned, as if Fate always had 
favored him. 

Often the children came from the near-by 
dingy houses and worked on their father’s 
plots, until Jimmy learned to know them. 
Sometimes the mothers came, too, anxious to 
make the most of a thrifty plan, enjoying the 
walk through the rows of green on the sand- 
blackened soil. 

At a hint from Jimmy, a water-pipe was run 
through the center of the five acres, and taps 
attached, so that hose would reach every cor¬ 
ner during the dry spells. 

Jimmy was touched when he saw some of the 
prosy-looking men growing fiowers instead of 
vegetables. Later they traded flowers for let¬ 
tuce and early beets. 

When weeding was neglected by some of the 
men, Jimmy had each man donate a very small 
sum for prizes, to be given for the neatest gar¬ 
den, the largest carrots, the heaviest head of 
cabbage. The company added to the sum until 


JIMMY CREATES A JOB 271 

every one had an opportunity to make an entry 
for one of the many prizes. 

At the height of the season newspaper men 
came, photographed the gardens, and featured 
the work in the paper, giving Jimmy due 
credit for his share in suggesting and super¬ 
vising the venture. 

Other factories having space available were 
following the example of the Gorham Steel. 
The disposal of the black foundry sand, which 
had been a real problem to the company, be¬ 
came a source of profit, as other factories 
bought it for their land. 

One evening, as George Haley and Jimmy 
and Bert McDonald were talking “ business,” 
Jimmy declared enthusiastically, “ It was the 
most enjoyable vacation I ever put in.” 

They were at the McDonald home, helping 
Bert connect up a new radio his father had 
bought. 

“ Remember when we laughed at Jim’s idea 
of making money out of what other people dis¬ 
carded? ” George queried reminiscently. 

“ We said it couldn’t be done, and he did it,” 
Bert returned thoughtfully. 


272 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


“ That isn’t what I had in mind at all,” 
Jimmy explained patiently. “ That is only a 
little side-line. The real fireworks ”—^he 
paused, as if on the verge of disclosing to 
them his plan, and the room grew quiet—“ will 
come later.” 

“ Don’t be a clam,” George reproved. “ Tell 
us.” 

But Jimmy shook his head. 'He had a be¬ 
lief, part superstition, that if a person talked 
too much about a thing he never accomplished 
it. 


CHAPTER XIX 


THE HAUNTED HOUSE 

When Elaine’s Aunt INIargaret called 
Xorma on the telephone to tell her that Mr. 
McDonald had died suddenly and Elaine 
wanted her, Norma could scarcely believe that 
she had heard aright. During the days and 
nights that followed, Norma stayed with 
Elaine most of the time. 

Ten-year-old Gene, realizing that she was 
doubly orphaned now, clung to her Aunt Mar¬ 
garet. 

Bert, just out of his first year of college, 
torn between grief and responsibility for his 
two young sisters, kept to himself. 

The day after the funeral the two girls sat 
in Elaine’s cozy pink bedroom, on the edge of 
the bed, Norma’s arm about her friend. 

“ I feel so helpless, Norma; I don’t know 
what I can do, and Bert won’t be able to finish 
college! ” 

“ You’ll find some way to get along, Elaine. 

2Y3 


274 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


There are loads of things to do,” Norma com¬ 
forted rather vaguely. 

“ There won’t be anything but the house, 
you know,” Elaine reminded, the tears welling 
to her eyes as she thought of her own inability 
to do anything. 

“ Now, don’t you worry about that,” Norma 
charged, taking Elaine’s hand in her own. “ It 
doesn’t have to be settled this very day, or for 
a week, for that matter. Come on out for a 
walk. It’s glorious outdoors, and maybe we’ll 
think of something for you to do.” 

Listlessly Elaine selected a light wrap, and 
followed Norma down the stairs. In the liv¬ 
ing-room sat Aunt Margaret, frowning over 
an unoffending book. Instinctively the girls 
knew that she was worrying. 

As they went out the front door, Elaine 
whispered: “Aunt Margaret has never done 
anything. We’ll have to take care of her.” 

“ Mother will think of some plan, dearie. 
You know she just enjoys such problems. I 
told you about Blue Bell; Mother figured out 
what she should do. She can take you and 
your aunt and the house and make a fortune 


THE HAUNTED HOUSE 


275 


out of you, without your knowledge and con¬ 
sent and against your better judgment,” 
Norma asserted confidently. “ Problems are 
like algebra to her, and she always finds the 
value of X.” 

By this time Elaine was smiling, for there 
was something contagious about her friend’s 
optimism. “ I suppose something will turn 
up,” Elaine agreed. “ Other people find things 
to do.” 

As in the case of many problems and worries, 
the solution was to be found in a most unex¬ 
pected way. The girls had gone on their 
favorite walk to the park and back to Norma’s 
house, where Mrs. St. Clair had insisted on 
calling up Aunt Margaret and having her 
bring Gene and Bert for dinner. 

The sympathetic Katy had made both the 
table and food particularly attractive, and the 
change of surroundings was good for the 
McDonalds. As they sat down, Norma won¬ 
dered how they would carry on a conversation 
with people so recently bereaved; the talk 
shouldn’t be too serious, and it certainly 
shouldn’t be funny. Alone with Elaine, whom 


276 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


she had known so long and understood so well, 
it was easy. 

The matter of talk, however, took care of 
itself. 

‘‘ How is your farm coming, Jimmy? ” Bert 
asked. 

“ Everybody’s still enthusiastic,” Jimmy re¬ 
turned, “ and that’s what counts. There’s a 
good deal of rivalry, and a good many remarks 
if a man’s plot shows too many weeds. I’d like 
to experiment on a small farm of my own. 
Every time I see that Stratford place I think 
of what could be made of it,—and it probably 
would sell for a song.” 

“ I wish we had it,” Bert remarked thought¬ 
fully. 

“ You couldn’t hire me to live in it,” Aunt 
Margaret objected promptly. “ Why, it’s 
haunted! ” 

“We could rent the house w^’re in,” Elaine 
offered, quite as if her aunt had not spoken. 
As a matter of fact, the timidity of the latter 
lady was so taken for granted that the others 
overlooked it. Aunt Margaret objected to 
boat-rides and big cities, and frequently heard 



THE HAUNTED HOUSE 


277 


burglars, who always escaped somehow before 
any one could locate them. 

“ Why not get an option on the place, 
Bert? ’’ Mr. St. Clair suggested. “ If you 
want me to, I’ll inquire whether any one pays 
taxes on it. Unless I’m badly mistaken, the 
house is held by the city for back taxes, which 
amount to more than most people want to pay. 
I remember hearing some one say the windows 
were nearly all broken, and the j)lumbing and 
fixtures had been stolen. Tramps get in occa¬ 
sionally. It would cost something to put it in 
shape, but since it’s on the State road, I should 
think it would be worth more.” 

“ What is the story about it, anyway, 
Mother ? ” Norma inquired, turning to her 
mother, who smiled in an amused way. 

“ Yes, tell us,” Gene chimed in, shivering 
with delight at the possibility of a ghost story. 

“ They* say Garland Stratford built it for 
his bride-to-be, who was a giddy young thing, 
he was much older, and not handsome, but— 
well, very much in love with the girl. He was 
showing a party of friends through the house, 
when he overheard the girl in the next room 


278 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


tell her friends she would never marry him if 
it were not for his money. He disappeared 
after that; he wouldn’t sell the place, agents 
said. Now they say the living-room door closes 
every night at two o’clock, and no one wants 
to live in the house, though it is—or was— 
worth a great deal of money.” 

“ His ghost objects to having any one live 
in it,” Aunt Margaret declared, for she was 
part Irish, and loved her ghosts and fairies and 
superstitions. 

Mrs. St. Clair suppressed a smile. “ I un¬ 
derstand the girl was standing in the living- 
room when she made the remark.” 

“ Did you know her. Mother? ” Norma in¬ 
quired eagerly. 

“ I knew them both slightly,” Mrs. St. Clair 
replied. 

“ Garland Stratford built the house out 
there, because he believed the town would grow 
that way,” Mr. St. Clair observed. “ He was 
a little previous, but with the State road and 
the street-car line it should build up, if some 
one would start it.” 

“ I’d just as soon be the one,” Bert declared. 



THE HAUNTED HOUSE 


279 


“ Bert, you’d better think twice about risk¬ 
ing your life in a house where a door closes at 
two in the morning,” Jimmy admonished 
sternly, fixing his twinkling eyes on Bert. 

Try to scare me with a ghost! I’d just 
as soon sleep there alone, if it happened to be 
convenient.” He glanced at his aunt, who 
looked slightly horrified. “ I take after the 
other side of the house,” he added. 

Elaine was sitting round-eyed with interest, 
and Mrs. St. Clair thought it might be time 
to change the subject. “ I notice the Bakers 
are back from Florida, and are looking for a 
house. There’s been so little building, I’m 
afraid they’ll have a time finding anything 
suitable,” she opined. 

Aunt Margaret straightened up. ‘‘ If we 
had any place to go, we could let them have 
ours during the summer. The income would 
be worth considering.” 

“ I’m going to have chickens and a cow,” 
Bert teased, quite as if the matter were settled. 

“ Oh, if only it weren’t haunted; there’s al¬ 
ways some drawback,” Aunt Margaret sighed. 

“ If some one would live in it a while, and 


280 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


take away its reputation of being haunted, it 
would be worth more/’ Mr. St. Clair pointed 
out. 

‘‘ I dare you, Bert,” Jimmy challenged, as 
he saw Aunt Margaret’s look of doubtful long¬ 
ing. “ There are rooms and rooms and rooms; 
I don’t think one person could count them.” 

“ What real objection is there to a self-clos¬ 
ing door, anyway? ” Bert demanded. “ Can’t 
a door close if it wants to? It undoubtedly 
has a good substantial reason for closing, if 
people had brains enough! to figure it out. As 
for the ghost, who ever heard of a ghost hurt¬ 
ing any one? ” 

“ It may be only hearsay about the door,” 
Mrs. St. Clair encouraged. 

Jimmy was silent, for he knew that several 
fellows had slept there to try it out, and the 
door closed and a light had seemed to pass 
through the room. The fellows were thor¬ 
oughly skeptical before going, so Jimmy knew 
they were not imagining it. 

‘‘ A person could close the door at night and 
lock it,” was all he said aloud. 

‘‘ Don’t let us miss such a good chance. Aunt 


THE HAUNTED HOUSE 


281 


Margaret,” Elaine coaxed. “ The Bakers can 
give us a good price for our house, and when 
they go South in the winter, we can move back 
into it. We should know, by that time, 
whether the Stratford house was ghost head¬ 
quarters or not.” 

“ Well—we might try it,” their aunt con¬ 
ceded. “ We ought to get an option for very 
little, and that would mean cheap rent, and 
a big profit on the house if we bought it and 
fixed it up.” 

“ Do you mind if I call up the Bakers 
now? ” Bert inquired. 

“ Well—I suppose not,” Aunt Margaret 
consented reluctantly. 

Without waiting for his aunt to change her 
mind, Bert called up the hotel where the 
Bakers were staying temporarily, and in a 
few minutes returned with the announcement 
that the Bakers would be over in the morning 
to look at the house. 

Before the McDonalds left Norma’s home, 
Mr. St. Clair had promised to find out about 
the Stratford place, and let them know. 

As it turned out, the terms were unusually 



282 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


easy, because the place had not been in demand, 
was so far out, and larger than the average 
family wanted to heat. An option of two hun¬ 
dred dollars would hold it for six months. 
There was nearly three thousand dollars 
due in back taxes, which price would buy the 
place. 

Two weeks later the McDonalds were estab¬ 
lished in the Stratford mansion, whose dignity 
was hardly impaired by the name “ The 
Haunted House.” The Bakers had taken the 
house in town until ‘‘ around Christmas.” 
Gene, round-eyed and mischievous, poked 
around the house, not too far from the rest, 
in an enjoyable state of excitement. ‘‘ It’s 
more fun if there is a ghost,” she declared, and 
then amended, “ at least in the daytime.” 

“ We’ll clean and clean and clean—and then 
buy it. It’s a grand house—under the dirt and 
dust.” Gene was counting the many fire¬ 
places. 

They ‘‘ cleaned and cleaned and cleaned,” 
as Gene had suggested, while Bert built fires 
in the many fireplaces, to dry it out thoroughly. 
On Saturday they moved in, and Bert worked 




THE HAUNTED HOUSE 


283 


all the evening replacing broken panes of glass; 
most of the windows had been boarded up. 

“ Now suppose we close that sliding door 
and leave it closed,” Bert suggested before 
they went to bed. 

“ That wouldn’t be any fun,” Gene objected, 
feeling that she was about to be cheated. 
“ Leave it open, so we can see whether there is 
a ghost. I’m ten years old, and I’ve never seen 
one! ” 

“ Aunt Margaret is fifty, and she never has, 
either,” Bert laughed. 

Every single McDonald resolved to stay 
awake that night and listen for the closing of 
the door, which Bert had left open. Every 
single McDonald, dead tired from moving 
things and cleaning and carrying and climb¬ 
ing stairs, fell asleep inside of half an hour. 
At two in the morning the door rumbled shut, 
evidently, for the next morning it was un¬ 
deniably as closed as a door could be. There 
was no argument about that. 

At nine o’clock the family grouped about it 
solemnly. 

“ We should have closed it—to save the 


284 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


ghost getting up just to amuse us and live up 
to his reputation,” Bert argued. 

“ That's no fun,” Gene declared, trying to 
feel scared, but, instead, delighted at the 
strange situation. 

“ I’m not going to stay here another night,” 
Aunt Margaret declared, though she failed to 
state just where she would stay. 

‘‘ You know very well, Aunt Margaret, you 
would have been as disappointed as Gene if the 
door had not closed,” Bert accused. 

His aunt was obliged to smile with the 
others. 

“ Now, after all, what harm did he do? ” 
Bert asked coaxingly. “ Do we mind opening 
that door in the morning? We can take turns. 
Gene, it’s your turn to-morrow morning to 
open the door. Now don’t forget,” he ordered 
with mock severity. 

Gene grinned, pleased with the commission, 
while Bert rolled back the door, and they all 
looked in at the undisturbed living-room. 

But Gene was doomed to disappointment, 
for the next morning the door remained open, 
just as it had been left. 


THE HAUNTED HOUSE 


285 


“ Some one said it never closed on Sunday 
nights,” Aunt Margaret averred. 

“ Then Gene may close it Tuesday morn¬ 
ings. Justice and liberty for all,” Bert de¬ 
clared grandly. “ And in the meantime, 
breakfast, please! ” 

On Tuesday morning Gene had the pleasure 
of opening the wide Flemish-oak door which 
had mysteriously closed during the night. 
Aunt Margaret had heard the rumble, had 
looked at the clock beside her bed, and, sure 
enough, it was twenty minutes past two. 

“ I think Sunday nights he must have an 
engagement with one of his spook friends,” 
Bert ventured. 

“ I wonder if it is Stratford himself who 
closes the door,” Aunt Margaret mused. 

‘‘ Now, Auntie, we don’t even know that 
he’s dead I ” Bert reminded, patting her shoul¬ 
der. “ Anyway, Grandfather McDonald once 
saved Garland Stratford’s father from drown¬ 
ing, so why should his ghost object to the , 
McDonald tribe? He’d be pleased, as I see it, 
knowing how we’re fixed financially. 

“ I don’t believe in ghosts, so it will have to 


286 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


be something mechanical for me,” Bert con¬ 
cluded, emphatically. 

‘‘ I suppose there’s a perpetual-motion clock 
wound up inside there,” his aunt countered. 

“ If there is, the McDonalds are rich this 
minute. Auntie,” he teased. “ Perpetual mo¬ 
tion is awfully scarce, and if we find any of it 
lying around, we can get rich in no time.” 

They laughed, and went to breakfast, but 
Elaine was rather silent. 

‘‘ It doesn’t close in the daytime,” she 
pointed out. “ That looks suspicious.” 

Et tu. Brute? ” Bert queried. “ I thought 
you were on good terms with ghosts. We’ll 
simply look for a night-time explanation,” he 
argued imperturbably. 

“ I wish we hadn’t moved into the heathenish 
place,” Aunt Margaret observed. “No one 
will want to buy it, when we can’t truthfully 
say it isn’t haunted. Tm for moving out.” 

“ We can’t afford that,” Bert returned 
quietly. 

There was no answer to that argument, they 
knew, so each decided to treat the matter 
lightly, and help allay one another’s fears. 


THE HAUNTED HOUSE 287 

Bert was working down-town all day, and try¬ 
ing to do the hundred and one things which 
simply must be done about the house, working 
with limited tools and limited money. At 
night he would fall into bed, resolved to stay 
awake, but too tired physically and mentally to 
keep his resolution. 

Even in the daytime the very silence of the 
door seemed spooky now. Then Jimmy had 
dropped in and found Bert working under 
difficulties, had driven back to the St. Clair 
home for tools, and returned to help on a dozen 
odd jobs. 

“ Let’s sleep beside the door, Bert,” Jimmy 
suggested, when he was urged to stay all 
night. 

“ Suits me,” Bert agreed. “We can talk 
and keep one another awake. No—I know a 
better way than that. I’ll set the alarm for 
one-forty-five.” 

“ Oh, don’t be so foolish! ” Aunt Margaret 
begged, gasping at their audacity. 

“ I suppose we are taking our lives in our 
hands,” Bert stated solemnly, winking at 
Jimmy, “ but there are several things I want 


288 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


to ask that ghost. I'll be polite, Auntie. I 
promise you that.” 

At one-forty-five the alarm went off, and 
the three sleepers up-stairs crept to the top of 
the stairs and waited. 

“ One night we put a chair against the door, 
and of course it did not close, so Aunt Mar¬ 
garet said that proved it was a ghost and not 
a person,” Bert related. 

“ Sounds logical,” Jimmy laughed, “ but the 
real explanation might be, too.” 

They waited, yawning and growing less 
talkative, until two o’clock, then two-ten. Gene 
leaned over against her aunt and fell asleep. 
There was no electricity yet, only a dim lamp 
burned. 

At two-fifteen there was a low rumbling 
sound that grew louder and louder, and finally, 
as it reached its maximum of noise, the wide 
door rolled shut, ending with a satisfied click, 
as if it had done its duty. 

“ The interurban truck! ” Bert announced, 
as Aunt Margaret rose to her feet, and called, 
“ Bert! Are you all right? Answer me! ” 

Jimmy went to the foot of the stairs. “ It’s 



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THE HAUNTED HOUSE 289 

only the interurban truck that rolls through 
here about two o’clock every morning. It’s the 
biggest thing on wheels, and evidently the only 
thing heavy enough to disturb the equilibrium 
of an otherwise well-behaved door.” 

“ Why doesn’t it close on Sunday night? ” 
Aunt Margaret demanded. 

“ Because the interurban doesn’t take a load 
out on Sunday, Auntie dear,” Bert teased. 

“ Is that all? ” Elaine scoffed. 

“ I’m not so sure,” Aunt Margaret began. 

“ Then you may sit up to-morrow night 
until the big truck goes through,” Bert offered 
generously. “ Hereafter I sleep in bed.” 

“ I’m cold,” his aunt returned, wrapping her 
kimono around her more closely, as she skill¬ 
fully changed the subject. 

Gene never forgave them for letting her 
sleep through the great moment when they 
discovered the mechanical ghost who worked 
in league with the living-room door. She com¬ 
plained bitterly next morning when they told 
her, dramatically, what had happened. 

“Oh! I’ve got an idea right out of thin 
air!” Elaine cried. “The Haunted House 


290 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


Tea-Room. There’s plenty of traffic past here 
on the boulevard. We’ll furnish the extra 
rooms, too, and share our ghost with the 
tourists 1 ” she declared generously. 

A few days later they had devised a sign, 
which Daphne had insisted on decorating with 
a ghost eating a waffle. Norma had told her 
of the discovery, and of the intention of the 
McDonalds to exploit the ghost who had en¬ 
abled them to buy a fine home for a song. 

Mr. St. Clair had taken the first mortgage 
for the full amount, providing they agreed to 
live in it for one year—thus reinstating it as a 
respectable, tenanted dwelling. 

Tourists saw the sign, ‘‘ The Haunted House 
Tea-Room,” and argued with themselves that 
they had to stop somewhere, and they might 
just as well see this haunted house. Most of 
them stopped for waffles or sandwiches, and 
inquired about the ghost and lodgings. Aunt 
Margaret told the story with many flourishes, 
but never told the solution of the mystery, un¬ 
less people insisted—which they seldom did. 
The average person resents any explanation of 
a mystery he has discovered; for one person 



THE HAUNTED HOUSE 


291 


who loves a logical explanation, there are one 
thousand who prefer the wall of mystery. 
Most people took it for granted that it never 
had been solved, and, when they saw the at¬ 
tractive rooms and tasted the superlative cook¬ 
ing, decided to stay. 

In September the number of tourists fell off, 
and Bert insisted that Elaine must go back to 
school. He, of course, would work. The in¬ 
come for the summer had been like a gift of 
Providence, and they dreaded the fall months 
that stopped it. 

At school Elaine found the girls curious 
about the Haunted House. There were three 
from the country, who appeared particularly 
interested, and finally told Elaine why. They 
rode back and forth every day, and it was tire¬ 
some, especially in bad weather; they wondered 
whether they might stay there for the winter 
months, from Monday afternoon until Friday 
morning, going home, of course, for the week¬ 
ends. 

Without waiting to consult her aunt, so 
eager was she to secure this income, Elaine told 
them they might come. Her aunt was de- 


292 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


lighted, and worked out a plan which would 
be economical to the girls, as well as profitable 
to herself. They were to do their own cook¬ 
ing for the few days they were to be there; the 
room rent was to cost them just what they were 
paying to commute—and they saved them¬ 
selves the tiresome trip. Aunt Margaret had 
applied a business principle which seldom fails; 
there must be an advantage to both parties. 
Other country girls heard of the arrangement, 
and before long every room was taken. 

Then, just as the country house, as they 
called it, was beginning to justify its existence, 
they began to worry about the city home, which 
would be vacant when the Bakers left, some 
time around the first of the year. That would 
mean three or four months’ loss of rent, right 
when they needed the money so badly, and ex¬ 
penses were so high. 

But, like most troubles worried over in ad¬ 
vance, this one never arrived. The Bakers 
decided that they would prefer to keep the 
house until April, rather than move their furni¬ 
ture out to storage and then hunt for another 
place. The McDonalds sighed with relief 


THE HAUNTED HOUSE 


293 


when Mr. Baker telephoned his decision, ask¬ 
ing if it was all right with them. 

“ My! I’m glad there are ghosts,” Gene an¬ 
nounced contentedly, for some of the financial 
worries had penetrated her young brain. 

“ But there aren’t any. Gene, dear,” Elaine 
objected. 

“ I’m glad, anyway,” Gene returned pleas¬ 
antly. 

“ Well, ‘ glad away,’ Polly anna,” Elaine 
laughed. “ You win! ” 


CHAPTER XX 


THE NEW HIGH 

Newbury High opened that year, with a 
new principal, as an “ experimental school,” 
for the state had decided to try out new 
theories which were said to be proving prac¬ 
tical in other States. Mary Effie Carr, a noted 
educationalist, was chosen to “ conduct the 
experiment.” 

“ Oh, aren’t we lucky! ” Norma cried as she 
met Elaine in the locker-room on the first day 
of school. “ It’s bound to be something new 
and different.” 

“ But we might not like it at all,” Elaine re¬ 
minded, with her usual Scotch caution. 

“ ‘ Elective courses ’ sounds promising,” 
Norma returned. 

When Mary Effie Carr, formerly on the 
State board of education, stood on the stage be¬ 
fore the assembly, there was the intense silence 
which only curiosity can create. Something 
was about to happen. 

Jimmy had reported to Norma that the boys 

294 


THE NEW HIGH 


295 


did not like having a woman principal; “too 
much like a grammar-school stunt,” they had 
objected. 

As Miss Carr faced the seven hundred pupils 
in the school, every student was studying her, 
trying to measure her ability, her character, by 
the small head with its smooth brown hair, 
serious eyes, and sensitive mouth. She looked 
very human. 

“ I’m not going to bore you with a long 
speech, young friends. I’m going right to the 
point. I’m glad to be here; I want to know 
you all personally as soon as possible, and I 
hope you won’t be sorry I came.” She smiled. 
“ I feel sure most of you will rejoice when I 
tell you that we are going to establish a new 
order of things.” There was a stirring and 
scuffing at this remark. 

“ We aren’t going to say ‘ study this and 
study that,’ regardless of whether a subject 
appeals to you. We’ve decided it is as sensible 
to say that every man of forty-five is qualified 
to be President of the country as to say every 
student will make a Latin scholar. Most of 
you have read of the new State ruling which 


296 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


allows the school more scope in its curriculum. 
This is going to be one of the first schools to 
take advantage of the new order.” 

A storm of applause broke, and Miss Carr 
smilingly waited until it had finished. “ I’m 
glad you appreciate it,” she approved, “ be¬ 
cause there was a long, hard fight to put the 
measure through, and we feel important and 
modern,—and, yes, terribly responsible in avail¬ 
ing ourselves of the new freedom.” 

Glancing over the assembly of interested 
faces, she continued: “ I am told that of the 
seven hundred pupils here, nearly half are 
freshmen. That means that only a very small 
percentage graduate. We’re going to stop 
thinking the fault is with the pupils, and begin 
blaming the system. Naturally there are two 
or three conditions. Each pupil is to take four 
subjects, as formerly; we want the written 
consent of your parents to your choice of sub¬ 
jects, and we recommend that pupils planning 
college-entrance, keep college-entrance require¬ 
ments in mind when choosing subjects. 

“ The school-board has discussed this matter 
thoroughly, and we have come to the conclu- 



THE NEW HIGH 


297 


sion that the pupil will gravitate to the things 
he can do best; and the things he can do most 
easily will indicate what should be the field of 
his endeavor.’’ 

There was more deafening applause before 
she could continue, though most of the pupils 
knew only that it meant more freedom, and 
gave no thought to the real issue. 

“ Classes this week will be ‘ experimental.’ 
They are listed on all the bulletin-boards. For 
the rest of the week, go to the classes that ap¬ 
peal to you, talk things over with your parents 
and at least one teacher, and be ready next 
Monday to start on your regular year’s work. 
The lessons this week will be concerned chiefly 
with the use of a subject after you have learned 
it,—how your knowledge will be applied in the 
work you may do after leaving school,” Miss 
Carr finished. 

The air was electric when the bell sounded 
to dismiss assembly. Out in the great hall, the 
bulletin-boards became the center of excited, 
talkative groups. 

When she could get near enough, Norma 
squeezed Elaine’s arm. “ Oh, isn’t it great! ” 


298 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


“ We aren’t dreaming, are we? ” Elaine de¬ 
manded. 

“ Pessimist! ” Norma laughed. “ I’m going 
to take English and Spanish and French and 
typewriting, and no mathematics and no 
science,” she announced gleefully. 

“ That makes four,” Elaine laughed. ‘‘ Why 
typewriting? ” 

“ Oh, I’d love to run a typewriter, and 
maybe I’ll work in Dad’s bank in the. summer.” 

After school the girls met in the small park 
opposite the school. 

“ Oh, girls, it isn’t like going to school, is 
it? ” Norma cried. 

“ It’s like starting to be whatever we’ve 
planned, or haven’t planned,” Betty approved, 
jumping up to a limb and “ chinning ” herself 
in sheer joy. “ And I’m to help Miss Burdick 
one period a day with gym work, and get credit 
for it. Miss Burdick asked Miss Carr, and she 
said the practical experience was invaluable, 
since I wanted to be a gym teacher.” 

“ I don’t see what you would learn that you 
don’t know,” Carma objected. 

“Well, Miss Burdick let me hang around 


THE NEW HIGH 


299 


gymnasium all the morning while she arranged 
classes. One girl was so short-winded that she 
will only be allowed to do certain of the exer¬ 
cises. They’re going to have a special talk over 
her, and recommend singing lessons for breath¬ 
ing, and possibly no regular school work for 
a year—just outdoor life. And you remem¬ 
ber that Lola Jackson who cried in sewing- 
class? ” 

Carma nodded, all interest now. 

“ It was her eyes, I guess. Miss Burdick 
found she couldn’t aim straight, and the ball 
always went to the left of the place she threw 
for. No wonder she cried when she tried to 
focus on French hemming! She didn’t even 
know she needed glasses. Then Miss Burdick 
told me to notice that the strongest girls have 
large nostrils,—which are ‘ the outward and 
visible sign ’ of a good pair of lungs,—which in 
turn mean a good heart, for pumping. You 
see,” Betty concluded, “ there are plenty of 
things I don’t know! ” 

“ I notice there are going to be speakers 
every week,” Helen Hartland contributed. 
“ We decide which division we want to attend 




300 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


—literary, art, business, or technical. There 
will be a speaker for each group, and a dif¬ 
ferent one every week, to help us decide what 
we are qualified for.” 

“ They don’t need to tell me,” Betty de¬ 
clared. “ I’d turn a handspring right now, if 
it were dignified for an assistant gym teacher! ” 

The girls all laughed, for Betty’s happiness 
was contagious. 

“ It seems to me you’re kind of lucky, 
Betty,” Norma began. 

“ I know it,” Betty agreed cheerfully. 
“ Things just get up on their hind legs and 
walk to me, when they find I want them—like 
my gym school, and the playground, and help¬ 
ing Miss Burdick. It’s luck, you can’t call it 
anything else.” 

“ Mother says, ‘ The things that are for thee 
will gravitate to thee,’ ” Norma offered. 
“ That’s Emerson, I think.” 

“ They don’t gravitate until you know what 
they are,” Carma objected. “ Betty’s been so 
sure, and has kept telling the world all about 
it,—^no wonder she’s lucky. They say you’ll 
get everything you want if you yell loud 


THE NEW HIGH 301 

enough for it, and I don’t think Emerson said 
it.” 

Betty laughed with the rest. “ You’re both 
right, so far as I’m concerned.” 

The following day registration broke all 
records of the high school. Discouraged pupils, 
who had flunked in from one to four subjects, 
came back to study what they knew they could 
pass creditably. 

Andrew Cole returned to study chemistry 
and physics and mathematics. Norma heard 
him rejoicing, “ I can spend all the time I like 
in the laboratory. Mr. Gray said so! ” 

It was odd to see him rejoicing over study¬ 
ing anything; he who had always stood with 
a blank expression on his face in most classes. 

Classes had to be cut down to half the usual 
time allowed, to accommodate those who re¬ 
turned for special work, and Miss Carr ap¬ 
pealed to the pupils to rise to the occasion. 

“ I have a reputation at stake, pupils. Now 
you must justify me. In effect, I have said 
that you could do twice as well studying the 
subjects of your choice. You must prove it, 
by making a better-than-usual grade in half 


302 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


the time, because the popularity of the system 
has brought back more pupils than we can 
accommodate. Are you with me? ” she fin¬ 
ished, as she faced them in the assembly 
room. 

A storm of applause seemed to indicate that 
they were. The standings at the end of that 
first month proved it. 

It was Daphne who urged Joseph to return 
to school for drawing and painting instruction, 
and for the personal-efficiency class Miss Carr 
had instituted; and it was Daphne who went to 
Miss Carr and told her of Joseph’s talent and 
problems. 

“ I’m looking ahead. Miss Carr. Next year 
I plan to give up my position and start to col¬ 
lege. Joseph could easily do the illustrating I 
do for the daily advertisements, but you will 
see that his speech and personal appearance are 
going to handicap him. I’m not sure the firm 
would consider taking him in. It’s only in 
stories that such handicaps are overlooked— 
chiefly in the movies! ” 

A stream of people stopped at the door of 
Miss Carr’s office, and, seeing her absorption in 


THE NEW HIGH 


303 


the attractive visitor, passed on. Miss Carr 
was always so busyl 

“ I can’t tell Joseph that he must appear 
well-groomed, and that he must speak properly 
if he is to make a good impression. I wonder 
if you can manage-” Daphne looked ap¬ 

pealingly at Miss Carr, who was making a 
mental note to the effect that Miss Daphne 
Haley was as concerned over the Italian boy 
as if it were her own career at stake. 

Miss Carr smiled as she answered, “ Yes. 
It may be painful to him, since you say he’s 
sensitive, but I’ll be tactful and give him per¬ 
sonal instruction. I’m glad you managed to 
get him back; Miss Jameson mentioned that 
he was particularly promising.” The principal 
took Daphne’s hand as she rose to go. “ What 
you told me about your plans will be confiden¬ 
tial. Please come in again, Miss Haley.” 

“Aunt Effie ” was the nickname of the popu¬ 
lar Mary Effie Carr, and occasionally “ Aunt 
Efficiency,” since a pupil had told seriously 
that that was her middle name, and it seemed 
appropriate. 

When the name reached Miss Carr’s ears. 



304 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


she said she hoped it was true that a nickname 
meant popularity. 

There were protests against Miss Carr’s 
method, but Miss Carr stood firm. The only 
member of the school-board who had opposed 
it, called one day to attend classes and see what 
was being done. 

“ I understand,” he told Miss Carr, “ that 
one of your pupils is doing nothing but sew¬ 
ing—that she sits from morning until night 
sewing. Is that so? ” There was a strong hint 
of disapproval in his tone. 

“ Yes. Catharine Boyle had left school, be¬ 
cause her father has been ill for months, and 
the family bank-account will last about six 
months, at most. Miss Boyle shows decided 
ability, not only for sewing, but for designing 
original garments. The things she is making 
in class, she is selling; they are mostly chil¬ 
dren’s clothes, and she is earning her living 
Avhile she learns,” Miss Carr explained. “ Miss 
Thompson says in this one term the girl will 
learn all she can teach her. She is more than 
self-supporting now, and naturally we are 
rather proud of her.” 



THE NEW HIGH 


305 


“ I see. Yes. Well—that’s different,” the 
old man conceded. “ I’m glad to know she is 
learning something useful, since it is so neces¬ 
sary.” 

Then came an exciting morning, later in the 
year, when Mr. Gray, the chemistry teacher, 
made an announcement in assembly. 

“ In the twelve years I’ve been teaching, I’ve 
never been so pleased over anything as T am 
this morning,” he began. ‘‘ I have some won¬ 
derful news. One of my pupils has just re¬ 
ceived word from the Government that a proc¬ 
ess he discovered has been accepted by them 
for use in the Mint. I’m not at liberty to 
say what the process is, but I can tell—and 
take huge delight in telling—that one of my 
pupils, one of your number,” he repeated im¬ 
pressively, “ has received the money offered by 
the Government for such a process. You may 
congratulate—Andrew Cole.” Mr. Gray 
bowed and sat down, and the students ap¬ 
plauded until Andrew’s white face was almost 
purple, though a happy smile showed through. 

Miss Carr spoke briefly and to the point. 
“ We feel that Mr. Cole has more than justi- 



306 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


fied the confidence we placed in his ability to 
decide for himself what he should study. 
There isn’t a pupil here who hasn’t as much 
ability along some line, as Mr. Cole has shown. 
That’s how much faith I have in the law of 
compensation,” she concluded, with a smile. 

At this broad compliment the students ap¬ 
plauded again, partly in gratitude, but chiefly 
out of enthusiasm. 


CHAPTER XXI 


A LETTER FROM UNCLE HERBERT 

When Mr. Haley’s leave of absence from 
his firm had expired, shortly after he had 
moved his family into the brick flat on Chest¬ 
nut Street, the question of going back had to 
be settled. 

“ You can make just as much, or more, by 
fixing up this house, Walter,” Mrs. Haley 
urged, “ and save your eyesight. There are 
dozens of things to be done to these flats, and 
the improvements are bound to pay us, but if 
you go back to bookkeeping, you’ll have no 
time to put on the house.” 

As INIrs. Haley spoke she watched her hus¬ 
band anxiousl}^ her tired hands twisting ner¬ 
vously. 

‘‘ And as long as I’m working, you haven’t 
a thing to worry about,” Betty reminded 
coolly. 

i 

With the exception of Betty herself, all the 

family laughed. To the youngest Haley, 

307 


308 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


twelve dollars looked bigger than twelve thou¬ 
sand was to look, later in life. 

Try it for a year, Father,” Ernest put in, 
“ You made a good job of the other house; 
make this one look its best.” 

“ It suits me,” Mr. Haley agreed rather 
wistfully. ‘‘ Bookkeeping is just drudgery, 
but there is some satisfaction in making a house 
over and keeping the profit yourself instead of 
adding it up for some one else. I’ll try it—as 
long as Betty’s working now,” he finished slyly. 

Before September came, their Uncle Her¬ 
bert wrote a long letter, acknowledging his 
nephew’s account of their new home. Betty 
and Norma were still up north at the time, but 
when they returned home, Betty secured per¬ 
mission to read the letter to her friend, for it 
was not just an ordinary letter that might come 
to any one. 

“ Dear Walter: 

“ First let me congratulate you on your 
success in making the Second Street house 
yield up two thousand dollars. Enclosed is a 
check for an equal amount, which I promised 
you, and am glad to send. You will notice 


A LETTER 


309 


there is an extra thousand included. Ernest 
and George are each to have four hundred of 
it toward their college expenses; if they have 
enough for this year, tell them to put it toward 
another year. The other two hundred is for 
Betty, because she so promptly carried out her 
resolution to become a gym teacher, and be¬ 
cause I’m sure twelve dollars a week is not 
enough for so valuable an instructor. 

“ I may say that I have always had an un¬ 
gratified ambition to be related to a gym 
teacher. [Betty saw nothing funny in this, 
but considered it quite probable and reason¬ 
able.] 

“As for yourself, Walter, if you have de¬ 
cided to continue ‘ reconstructing ’ houses, I 
shall be glad to double your profit on each one. 

“ Next summer your aunt and I plan to go 
to Europe, and we have talked about taking 
Daphne and Annette with us, deciding that 
they would profit by such a trip at that time. 
Tell them to be ready by June or July. This 
may necessitate some changes in their present 
plans, but I have in mind the fact that they 
will want to study somewhere next year (fol¬ 
lowing the trip) at my expense. 

“ I am warning the girls about next year’s 
plans, so they may have time to think about 
them. I might have made the college money 
available this year, but I happen to believe in 
a little practical work between high school and 


310 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


college. The girls had their own little plans, 
and I was interested to see them work these out 
in their own way. I’m proud of what success 
they’ve had, and am sure they know better 
now what they want to study, and where, and 
why, than they would have a year ago. I feel 
it is'the effort we make ourselves that makes 
us grow, and young people should stand on 
their own feet, at least most of the time. 

“ Please keep me posted as to your activities. 
I am always interested in the children’s plans; 
remember I have none of my own, and yours 
are my next of kin. 

“ With love to all, 

“ Uncle Herbert.” 

For just three minutes Betty had felt sharp 
twinges of jealousy, while Daphne and An¬ 
nette made lavish plans. Her two sisters go¬ 
ing abroad while she stayed home! Then her 
own problem took up her mind. 

“ How in the world shall I spend two hun¬ 
dred dollars? ” she demanded helplessly. 

“ I don’t think it can be done,” George pro¬ 
nounced solemnly. “No one person should be 
expected to spend a vast sum like that! ” 

Betty tried not to smile, but failed. 

“ Lots of time, Betty,” Annette said. 


A LETTER 


311 


“ Think of all the things you’d like to do, 
and then choose the very best,” Daphne coun¬ 
seled wisely. 

“ Yes, and put the list down on paper; don’t 
try to work out a problem of that size in your 
head,” Ernest admonished with an assumed 
concern. 

“ Why! Next year there will be only Betty 
at home,” Mrs. Haley cried in real alarm. 

“ You’ll never miss the rest of us. Mother. 
Betty’ll talk enough for all of us,” George 
consoled quickly. 

When Norma had read the letter and re¬ 
joiced with Betty, her thoughts flew again to 
Jimmy’s words. He was right! Uncle Her¬ 
bert had wanted them to help themselves be¬ 
fore he offered any assistance. 

“ Will Annette give up her school? ” Norma 
inquired. 

Betty put the letter away in the desk before 
answering, then she lowered her voice. “ Don’t 
tell any one. She’s asked Miss Thompson to 
And a suitable substitute, and have her prepare 
especially for this work. 

“ You’re responsible for all the nice things 


312 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


that have happened, Norm!” Betty accused, 
squeezing Norma until she gasped for breath, 
for she had not Betty’s robust physique. 

“I? How? ” Norma inquired in surprise. 

‘‘ Didn’t you find Uncle Herbert for us? ” 
Norma’s dark curls bobbed as she nodded 
thoughtfully. “ I’m good and thankful I 
didn’t get such a nice uncle for any one else! ” 


CHAPTER XXII 


THE SECRET OF THE BLACK BOX 

When the Christmas holidays came, Jimmy 
resolved to make another thorough search of 
his home for the black box. The Hohlers had 
written that they would consider buying the 
house, and Jimmy, much as he needed the 
money for his college expenses the following 
year, could not bring himself to part with the 
home that might contain that box, together 
with the bank-account and whatever else might 
be in it. 

“ We’ll drive there again during the Christ¬ 
mas vacation, Jimmy,” Mr. St. Clair promised 
at breakfast one morning. “ There is not much 
snow at present, and you and Norma will be 
out of school. This time we’ll have to think of 
something more original than clothes-closets 
and dresser-drawers.” 

“ We’ve said that every time,” Norma re¬ 
minded. “ I haven’t a single think left^—^may¬ 
be it’s just as well.” 


313 


314 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


‘‘ We’ll have to depend on inspiration this 
time,” Jimmy contributed. 

Mrs. St. Clair placed the muffins where 
Jimmy could reach them. “ I feel instinctively 
that we’re going to find the box on this trip.” 

“ They say instinct is what a woman feels 
when she’s wrong,” her husband reminded her. 

Some man thought that up,” Mrs. St. 
Clair retorted smilingly. 

Without discussing the problem, the family 
thought a good deal about the possible hiding- 
place of the box during the few days that 
intervened between that morning and the 3ay 
they visited the Portland house. 

The night before they went, Mr. St. Clair 
said to Norma: “ It seems to me that Betty 
would enjoy a trip of this nature, with an 
elusive box to be found. You might call her 
up, if you think she would care to come.” 

Norma bounded to the hall and the tele¬ 
phone, where she held a very satisfactory con¬ 
versation with Betty. 

“ She says she will not only come, but will 
find the box,” Norma reported, returning to 
the living-room where the others were sitting. 


THE SECRET OF THE BLACK BOX 315 

The next morning, when they stopped be¬ 
fore the Haley home, Betty waltzed out with 
her wide smile in evidence, like a streak of sun¬ 
shine on a cloudy day. “ I’m glad you’re go¬ 
ing to let me be there when it’s found! ” she 
said gratefully. 

“ We’re glad to hear that it’s going to be 
found when you’re there,” Jimmy returned in 
the same vein. 

“ A heated car! ” Betty stated approvingly. 
“ The Haleys must get one.” 

As they neared the house in Portland, Betty 
cried, “ I borrow the attic! ” 

“ You’ve borrowed nothing,” Jimmy in¬ 
formed her scathingly. “ There isn’t any 
attic! ” 

For a moment Betty had a squelched feel¬ 
ing, but she reacted favorably after glancing 
at the house. “ I see an attic window!” she 
announced triumphantly. 

“ There’s no entrance to it,” Jimmy insisted 

But Betty did’not hear. “People always 
hide things in high places; it’s human nature. 
I reiterate, ‘ I borrow the attic.’ ” 

Fat, blonde Mrs. Hohler admitted them to 


316 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


the house, smelling pleasantly of Christmas 
cakes. Her face was spotted with flour. 

“ I’m afraid we’re bothering you,” Mrs. St. 
Clair apologized, at the door. 

“ Not at all,” Mrs. Hohler returned cor¬ 
dially. “ Come right in. I got your card, and 
I know how the boy feels about that lost box. 
Make yourselves right at home, and go any¬ 
where you like to look for it. It’s got to be 
found. We’ve tried ourselves; I don’t know 
where we haven’t looked,—but no trace of 
it.” 

The visitors hung their wraps in the hall. 

“ Isn’t there any way to the attic? ” Norma 
asked, as Mrs. Hohler was starting toward 
the kitchen. 

“ There was a trap-door, but we never kept 
anything up there, and Aunt Selina had it 
papered over the last time she had papering 
done in that back bedroom. Aunt Selina was 
never one to keep junk around,” Jimmy ex¬ 
plained, “ and so had no use for an attic, espe¬ 
cially when there was nothing but a trap-door 
entrance.” 

“ Did you ever see the black box after she 


THE SECRET OF THE BLACK BOX 317 

had the papering done? ” Betty demanded 
keenly. 

“Well-” Jimmy appeared to try to 

think back that far. “I’m not sure—^maybe 
not,” he admitted. 

Norma got there first, partly because she 
knew the way and Betty did not, and Jimmy 
was too polite to edge past them on the narrow 
stair, though he >vas making three steps at a 
time. Norma caught up an umbrella which 
stood in the clothes-closet, and tapped on the 
ceiling until a hollow sound rewarded her. 

“ That sounds like wood,” Jimmy pro¬ 
nounced. 

“Get me a chair, Jimmy! Do something 
useful. I got here first, and I’m going to have 
the first look,” Norma asserted. 

Norma’s parents stood in the doorway by 
this time, Mrs. Hohler back of them, trying to 
content themselves with what they heard, since 
only three could get in the small closet. 

In her eagerness to climb on the chair Jimmy 
brought, Norma almost fell, but recovered 
her balance and poked hard at the “ hollow 
place.” 



318 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


“ This suspense is terrible, Norma,” Betty 
cried in mock anguish. “ You know my nerves 
won’t stand everything! ” 

“ Not quite, but almost,” Jimmy consoled. 

Norma’s head and arms followed the torn 
wall-paper and umbrella. 

“ It’s right here 1 It’s right here! ” she 
squealed delightedly, and lifted down the 
dustiest black box that ever eluded human 
owners. 

It is doing Jimmy no injustice to say he 
grabbed it. He pried at the cover, and then 
remembered the key, which was still in the big 
secretary down-stairs. 

The party hurried down the stairs, Mrs. 
Hohler as fast as her fat would allow, holding 
back the rest because she had been nearest the 
door and had started first. Jimmy pulled open 
the drawer and found the key. He turned it, 
and found a bank-book, which he looked at a 
moment, while the rest watched breathlessly. 

“ It’s still in Mother’s maiden name,” he an¬ 
nounced. “ That’s why we couldn’t find any 
trace of it at the banks.” He looked at Mr. 
St. Clair as he spoke. “Four hundred and 


THE SECRET OF THE BLACK BOX 319 

eighty-six dollars,” he read, turning the last 
page. 

“ The interest will have doubled it, just 
about, by now,” Mr. St. Clair stated promptly. 
“ And the stock, Jimmy. My nerves are like 
Betty’s; they won’t stand everything,” he 
reminded. 

Betty laughed. “You have my sympathy,” 
she declared in a falsetto tone. 

Meanwhile Jimmy rather casually opened 
the stock certificate, for he had no idea what 
he was to see, and was in no hurry to display 
worthless paper before others. 

Automobile ^iookl Detroit! Mother taught 
school there! ” Jimmy turned speechless after 
that, just trying to absorb it. 

At this moment Mr. St. Clair grabbed the 
stock and began counting shares. “ After all, 
Jimmy,” he smiled apologetically, “ I’m your 
trustee, and must see this.” 

“Why! They must be worth a fortune, 
aren’t they. Uncle? ” Jimmy faltered. “ And 
to think Mother didn’t want that box opened 
until I was ready for college! ” 

“ It’s worth several fortunes, son. One of 


320 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


the best-paying automobile stocks ever invested 
in. Ten shares!he announced. “ Any one 
would keep you from starving! ” 

“ Have you added up the back dividends, 
Uncle? An expert like you should have had 
that computed long ago! ” Jimmy teased. 

“ I was just adding the odd pennies, to see 
whether they would bring you up to the mil¬ 
lionaire class,” Mr. St. Clair retorted, “ but 
you interrupted, and I lost count, so you can 
wait.” 

“ I’ll wait, if you’ll loan me enough money 
to buy us aU a dinner at the Portland Hotel. 
Come on, Mrs. Hohler. Do whatever should 
be done to cakes before they are left to 
their own devices,” Jimmy ordered. “ This 
party is on me—if Uncle has the money with 
him.” 

“Oh, Jimmy! I’m glad you’re a sensible 
youngster, or I should be one of the worst- 
worried guardians in the country. As it is, 
I’m going to spend the next three years show¬ 
ing you poorhouses and pointing out men who 
lost fortunes on worthless stock,” Mr. St. Clair 
declared. 


THE SECRET OF THE BLACK BOX 321 

Mrs. Holiler hurried out to change her 
dress. 

“ Betty, I know just how you felt when 
Uncle Herbert sent you that two hundred,” 
Jimmy teased, as they waited for Mrs. Hohler. 

“ You can’t spoil my pleasure,” Betty re¬ 
torted. “ I’ve spent that two hundred twenty 
ways, and I’m going to spend it another 
twenty—before I really let it go! ” 

Mrs. Hohler reappeared, and they drove to 
the hotel, where Jimmy told them to order 
“ regardless.” 

“Not so fast, Jimmy,” Mr. St. Clair 
laughed. “ I have only twenty-two dollars 
with me, and I need gas.” 

“ If you’re going to^be my guardian, you’ll 
have to carry more money than that, or I won’t 
play,” Jimmy warned. 

“ That’s one thing that can be said for my 
two hundred,” Betty jibed meaningly. “ There 
are no guardians attached. I could spend it 
for all-day suckers if I wanted to.” 

“ That would not only be childish,” Jimmy 
retorted loftily, “ but it would prove your need 
of a guardian.” 


322 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


“ You needn’t start putting on airs with 
your poor friends,” Betty admonished. “ We 
knew you when-” 

When they had ordered and eaten “ regard¬ 
less,” which it was not difficult to do after their 
long drive, there proved to be enough money 
for handsome boxes of candy, and they left one 
with Mrs. Hohler. 

The ride home was a gay one, though Mr. 
St. Clair reminded them frequently that all the 
responsibility fell on him. “You haven’t had 
time yet, Jimmy, but you’ll think up out¬ 
landish ways of spending money,” his guardian 
predicted. 

Shortly after nine o’clock the party reached 
home, and left Betty at her door. She raced 
into the house and looked about the living- 
room. “ Where’s Daphne? ” she demanded, 
seeing her favorite sister was missing. 

“ Up-stairs, painting,” their mother an¬ 
swered. “ Whatever are you so excited about, 
child?” 

“ Daphne, come on down,” Betty called at 
the foot of the back stairs. 

As Daphne appeared, her sister explained. 



THE SECRET OF THE BLACK BOX 323 


‘‘ I wouldn’t tell what happened until you 
were here.” She proceeded to recount the 
events of the day, in tantalizingly proper order, 
dramatizing every smallest act. 

“He may be as rich as Uncle Herbert; I 
don’t know,” Betty concluded, watching for 
the effect on her family. 

“ I’m glad some one like Jimmy had such 
a piece of luck,” Daphne pronounced. “ He 
deserves it, and he will be sensible.” 

“ The shares were in his mother’s maiden 
name, too? ” George inquired, and when Betty 
nodded, he turned to his own mother. “ You’re 
sure you haven’t any automobile stock around 
—in your maiden name. Mother? ” 

Mrs. Haley shook her head and smiled 
slightly. 

“ He’ll come into it when he’s twenty-one, 
as long as there’s no stipulation to the con¬ 
trary,” George mused. “ It’s lucky he’s a 
sensible kid.” 

“ He won’t 7ieed to be sensible, you goose,” 
Betty remonstrated. “ That’s the grand part 
of it! ” It seemed to the youngest Haley that 
her family was casting aspersions on the mag- 


324 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


nitude of the new fortune to which Jimmy 
Rogers had fallen heir, and that spoiled her 
story. 

Pretending to be in a huff, Betty marched 
out into the hall, to return a moment later with 
the box of candy. ‘‘ This is what happens 
commonly when one is rich,” she explained, 
passing the box around. 

The following day came a Christmas letter 
from Uncle Herbert. It was short, contain¬ 
ing a cordial holiday greeting, and one other 
item of note. 

“ I am arranging to have my income tax 
reduced, and yours increased,” he wrote, 
“ which seems to me only fair, when you have 
five husky youngsters and their careers to 
worry about. I have put in trust an amount 
sufficient to guarantee you a quarterly income 
that will buy all the necessities of life and a few 
of the luxuries.” 

At the table Mr. Haley read the letter, and 
when he stopped to turn the page, Betty inter¬ 
rupted: ‘‘Really, life is worth living, just to 
see what will happen next! ” 

Mrs. Haley wiped away a few tears of 


THE SECRET OF THE BLACK BOX 325 

gratitude and relief from the financial worries 
of twenty years. Daphne patted her in the 
maternal way she always adopted toward her 
mother, as if their relations were reversed. 

Betty cast an appraising eye over her 
brothers and sisters; the boys were home for 
the holidays, and so, Betty felt, not over- 
.worked. 

The more of you I have to help me with 
the dishes, the sooner I can get over to tell 
Norma,’’ she intimated. 

“ We have a telephone,” George observed. 

“ A telephone is all right—sometimes—but 
not on an occasion such as this,” Betty de¬ 
clared. “ I’m thankful I didn’t hear about 
Jimmy’s affairs over the ’phone! ” 

“ Go on, infant,” George ordered. ‘‘ Maybe 
the brownies will wash the dishes.” 

‘‘ It seems as if Uncle Herbert always does 
just exactly the very thing that helps most,” 
Daphne remarked, coming out of a reverie. 

At Norma’s house, seven and a half minutes 
later, Betty told her good news. Jimmy, at 
the desk figuring, laid down his pencil to listen. 

My, hasn’t it been a lucky year for us all 1 ” 



326 


NORMA’S FRIENDS 


Betty asked. ‘‘You know, Norma, I believe 
there’s something lucky about you! ” 

“About me? Why?” Norma queried in 
genuine surprise. 

“ Of course! You found our Uncle Herbert 
for us, and he’s done oceans of helpful things, 
and you started Joseph’s lessons,—though you 
nearly drowned yourself doing it,—and you 
were determined to find the box in the attic, 
even after it was sealed up with wall-paper! 
Don’t you think she’s a lucky person to have 
around, Jimmy? ” she demanded, sure he 
would support any statement that favored 
Norma. 

“ Certainly, I think it’s lucky to be one of 
Norma’s friends,” Jimmy responded satisfac¬ 
torily. 


THE END 
































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